For the past few years the Marine Corps League has led the patriotic charge in placing American flags along State Route 89A in West Sedona on eight separate holidays. Now, you can add Uptown as well.
In February, a subcommittee of the Marine Corps League was made up of Ray Stueve, Gordie Garvey, Pat Murphy, Stephen McGarry and Sedona City Councilman Bill Chisholm, and they decided that they should wait until the Uptown improvements — as part of Sedona in Motion — before moving forward with the flag program. Then came the decision as to where to place them. In the end, the city of Sedona approved placement on the existing light poles.
On Thursday, Nov. 5, volunteers from the Kiwanis Club, the Marine Corps League and the Rotary Club of the Sedona Red Rocks began hanging flags in West Sedona and Uptown. They will fly until Thursday, Oct. 12, the day after Veterans Day.
The eight holidays in which the flags will be flown in West Sedona and Uptown include Presidents Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day on July 4, Patriot Day on Sept. 11, First Responders Day on Oct. 28 and Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
Stueve, a member of the Marine Corps League and the one who spearheaded the Uptown effort, said when they started the process of working with the Arizona Department of Transportation to get permission to place the flags in West Sedona, they didn’t realize Uptown was owned by the city, and thus, had far fewer hoops to jump through. So, it made sense to place them there as well.
The Marine Corps League funded this effort with the purchase of the flags as well as the holders, which cost $43 apiece. City crews placed the flag holders on 28 light poles in Uptown.
“Everyone seems to love them,” he said of the display of flags. “People have asked why we don’t keep them up all year. We felt if we did that it wouldn’t be as special compared to putting them up throughout the year. We’re confident tourists and locals will love them in Uptown as much as they do in West Sedona.”
