EDMONTON -- Hundreds of Canadian flags have popped up on St. Albert lawns this weekend.
“It makes us proud to be Canadians, as we should be,” said Judy Read, whose entire neighbourhood is lined with flags.
“That sense of togetherness, community and pride in our country is just very overwhelming.”
The flags were planted throughout the city as part of a fundraising program by the Rotary Club of St. Albert.
“It enables us to build a pool of funds that we can then allocate to charities, to causes that we designate as the most important or the most appropriate for that year,” said Mark Dixon, the rotary club’s president.
St. Albert residents can donate $60 to have a flag planted on their lawn to mark Victoria Day, Canada Day and Labour Day.
“For the next two weekends of the summer then the cost comes down to $40 and then $20 for the last one,” said Dixon.
“There’s a metal peg that we have custom built, so that inserts into the lawn with very little damage to the lawn and then the pole of the flag inserts into the metal peg.”
Read first got involved in the program when she moved into the Lynx Close neighbourhood five years ago.
“That year probably about six or seven families joined and it’s just mushroomed since then,” she said.
This year there’s a record 606 flags in the community.
“We have more, almost doubled the number of flags from last year and for the previous year,” said Dixon.
He said the program, which is nearly 30 years old, is always expanding.
“We’re getting pegs made right now and so as those orders come in we’ll just add to our inventory,” Dixon said.
Typically the flags are installed just before the long weekend, then removed until the next long weekend.
This year, instead of putting them in storage until Canada Day, the Rotary Club will put them outside the Sturgeon Hospital, the city’s three fire halls and the RCMP detachment.
“It’s an opportunity for us to publicly support front-line workers and give members of the community an opportunity to do the same. Drive by, honk, you know recognize those front-line workers,” said Dixon.
“They’ve gone through so, so much. We see it day in, day out,” he added.
“It’s just a wonderful way of paying it forward,” said Read, “Showing the support everyone in our community, to all the people that have sacrificed so much and worked so hard on our behalf during these difficult times.”
