ELKS LODGE #2083 NEWS RELEASE

Elks Lodge #2083 is hosting its 2024 Flag Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday, at the Elks Lodge, 1601 Trinity Drive. The community is invited to attend the annual ceremony, which is followed by lunch.

The custom of celebrating the American flag began on June 14, 1885, in a one-room schoolhouse in Waubeka, Wis., when schoolteacher Bernard Cigrand asked his students to write essays about the US flag to celebrate the 108th anniversary of the flag’s creation by an act of the Continental Congress. It was the first observation of what would later be called Flag Day. Cigrand went on to advocate for the celebration of Flag Day for the rest of his life.

The observation of Flag Day gradually became more widely practiced, and in 1907, the holiday gained its greatest national advocate when the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks became the first national organization to officially celebrate it.

In 1911, the annual celebration of Flag Day became mandatory for all Elks lodges.

The first national Flag Day was celebrated on June 14, 1916, following a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson also led a celebration of Flag Day the following year, but national celebrations of the day were sporadic after that until 1949, when President Harry Truman signed a bill into law making Flag Day an official annual national observance.