Adrienne Rufo of Batavia had a ringside seat on the lawn outside the bandshell in Batavia on Saturday for the city’s annual Flag Day event.
“My husband plays in the band so I’m here to see him but also celebrate Flag Day with the community,” Rufo said. “I think that fact that we have a connection to the day is kind of cool. It’s a little piece of trivia for the town and a fun little claim to fame for it.”
The city of Batavia welcomed hundreds of locals as well as those from surrounding areas to its annual Flag Day celebration Saturday that included a few new attractions.
Before the main Flag Day ceremony began at the Flag Day Monument across from Batavia City Hall, the Boy Scouts offered a luncheon to honor local leaders at Water Street Studios in the city, followed by a program by Illinois author Tom Emery at City Hall, who spoke about his research about Batavia dentist Dr. Bernard Cigrand, who has been referred to by many as the father of Flag Day.
The main Flag Day ceremony at the city’s Flag Day Monument included the Batavia Community Band, along with appearances by veterans, local first responders and patriotic organizations, the unveiling of new personalized bricks at the monument, the sealing of time capsules and guided tours of the site.
Marty Callahan of Batavia, who helped organize the event, said Flag Day ceremonies have been held since 2016 “even before the monument was built,” adding that this was the third year of the local celebration since the city’s monument plaza was installed.
Like Rufo, Callahan admitted Batavia has a Flag Day celebration unlike any other in the country given Cigrand’s connection to the city.
“We always get questions about this but Cigrand is recognized as the father of Flag Day as he lived in Batavia at the time of President Wilson’s first official 1916 proclamation for Flag Day,” he said. “That is why – here locally – that one man, it kind of gives us that bit of recognition. The only other place that can say that is Waubeka, Wisconsin, where he was born. They celebrate where he came from … but they don’t have anything on this scale.”
Callahan highlighted another new offering this year during the Flag Day celebration that he felt would bring the community together.
“We’ve never had our new Red, White and Brews: Hanging with Heroes event where people can come down and hang out at the VFW on River Road,” he said.
The event was featured from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Batavia Overseas VFW Post 1197, 645 S. River Road, and included games, presentations on American history, patriotic music and food trucks, with drinks for purchase at the VFW bar.
Jackie Buno of Palos Park and her husband Wayne came to the Flag Day event on Saturday.
“We just learned about Cigrand and it’s very cool that there’s no other town in America that can say what Batavia can about him,” Jackie Buno said. “Flag Day is something that is not celebrated enough. We have the national holidays where people take time off and go on picnics and stuff, but Flag Day … we don’t think about it much.”
“It’s good to see this recognized,” Wayne Buno said about Batavia’s Flag Day ceremony. “As people have said, there’s no where else that does this, and we’re here.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
