By By BEN RAYMOND LODE / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- The Niles Elks are taking their annual flag observance ceremony to the public this year.
Saturday, June 14, at 2 p.m., they will hold their Flag Day ceremony at the Amphitheater in Riverfront Park to pay tribute to the troops who have been, and still are, deployed overseas.
Barb Allen, chair of the Niles Elks' Americanism committee, said the observance of the flag ceremony has never been open to the public before.
It is usually held in the Niles Elks Lodge, she said.
Allen said there will be music at the ceremony and singing of patriotic songs.
She said the event organizers are also inviting women and men from this area who have recently returned from deployment overseas.
She expects the ceremony to take from half-an-hour to 45 minutes.
With the Great Niles Garage Barrage and The Fort St. Joseph Rendezvous taking place in Niles Saturday, too, Allen is hoping many people will come to the flag observance.
She said observing Flag Day for Elks all over the country is a long-standing tradition.
The Elks organization first started observing Flag Day in 1907.
In 1949 the organization brought a proposal before Congress in an effort to establish June 14 as the national Flag Day, she said.
Since then, flag day has been celebrated on June 14 in Elks Club's all over the country.