Tag: Flag Day Parade

The enthusiasm for Flag Day continues every June in Ocean Shores.

This year, the annual Flag Day parade will be led by the color guard from joint base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma.
The 75 entries include four marching bands, several drill teams, and the parade Grand Marshall, Miss Washington.
Other parade entries include military veterans, first responders, classic cars and colorful floats. All entries will be adorned in red, white and blue to honor the American Flag and what it represents.

The Ocean Shores Flag Day Parade is one of the largest held in Washington. The parade starts at 11 am on Saturday, June 8.

For over twenty years, the Ocean Shores community has come out in force to demonstrate its patriotism. Thousands of people are expected to cheer as the parade travels through town and down Chance a la Mer past the grandstands in front of the Ocean Shores Convention Center.

Why Flag Day?

While the Fourth of July is traditionally celebrated as America’s birthday, Flag Day commemorates the birthday of the U.S. Flag. The American Flag was recognized on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.

The original idea for a separate day to honor the American Flag is believed to have first originated over one hundred years later, in 1885.

That’s when a Wisconsin schoolteacher arranged for his young students to observe Flag Day while promoting civics, patriotism, and respect for the American symbol. For the next twenty years, the teacher, BJ Cigrand, continued to publish articles and make speeches. He enthusiastically advocated the observance of June 14 as Flag Day.

His campaign caught on and continued to spread, to Chicago, where he later moved, then to towns and cities in New York and Pennsylvania. Flag Day was adopted by the New York State Board of education in 1889. It was observed at the Betsey Ross house in 1991. Communities continued to embrace the idea of a separate Flag Day observance.

For more than three decades, spreading local and state celebrations of Flag Day eventually prompted President Woodrow Wilson to officially establish observance of Flag Day by the Proclamation in 1916.

While Flag Day events continued to be celebrated for years after Wilson’s proclamation, finally in 1949 President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 each year as National Flag Day.

And the tradition continues in Ocean Shores, Washington.

Join the celebration!