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Why do we celebrate, and just what is the history of Flag Day? Flag Day commemorates June 14, 1776, which is the day the Continental Congress agreed on what the nation’s flag would look like. In 1916, President Wilson issued a proclamation of June 14 as Flag Day. And more than 30 years later, in 1949, President Truman signed a formal observance of the holiday into law. But the creation of Flag Day pre-dates Wilson’s proclamation and started in the 1880s, with a school teacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, a small town about 35 miles outside of Milwaukee. According to PBS, “On June 14, 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, an 18-year-old Waubeka native teaching at Stony Hill School, put a flag in his inkwell and assigned his students an essay about what the flag means to them. Cigrand left the next year for dental school in Chicago, but he never gave up his advocacy for a national day dedicated to the flag. Cigrand realized his dream in 1916 when Wilson issued his proclamation.”
So, celebrate a tradition that began in our very own Midwest, and fly your flag proudly on Flag Day this year! Stop into Agora Arts on Saturday, July 14, for your free American flag.
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