Business & Tech
Flags Across Concord: How Can You Get One?
The Rotary Club of Concord program seeks to celebrate America during 5 holidays a year — while connecting neighbors, funding scholarships.
CONCORD, NH — Have you seen American flags at homes around the city of Concord around certain holidays and wondered what they were all about?
The Rotary Club of Concord program started last year after a similar successful program in Hopkinton, according to Pieter Hollenberg, the president of the Rotary Club of Concord, a service club with dozens of active city business leaders. For a $50 donation to the club, the flags are displayed in yards on Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. The club installs a capped sleeve on your yard and then, three days before the holiday, the flags are installed. Club members pick up the flags three days after the holiday.
Hollenberg said the Hopkinton club was “instrumental” in helping Concord get its program started.
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In 2020, the club purchased 60 flags to start. Due to the pandemic, it was a little slow going, at first.
“My neighborhood in the South End had about half of the 60 flags; also a few other neighborhoods where Rotarians lived took care of the rest,” he said. “By the middle of summer last year, we saw the need and interest increase therefore, we purchased more, and by the end of the flag display year, Veterans Day, we had 80 flags displayed around Concord.”
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By May of this year, another 70 flags were purchased — with club members going door-to-door from the Bow town line, around the South End. Members also sent out letters, which helped expand the program, too.
“It is quite a sight to drive down South Street during the 5 display holidays,” Hollenberg said.
Around 130 flags are on display in Concord and the club is looking to purchase another 100 flags.
Hollenberg the program also helped others to get to know their neighbors, too, especially ones who people may not get a chance to speak to on a regular basis.
“It’s labor-intensive but very rewarding,” he said.
The club uses the money to assist nonprofits in the city as well as reward scholarships for college, university, and trade school students.
Find out more online at the Rotary Club of Concord website, linked here.
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