Parade of Flags

 

Multiple times a year, from every National holiday to every time one of the three U.S. Naval Aircraft Carriers stationed in Coronado arrives, there is a practice and display that is different from many other towns and cities.

 

Former Rotary Club President Bob Watson came up with the idea to honor a few holidays with a parade of flags down the median. At the time, Bob secured a donation of 100 flags that had flown over the Capitol with the idea to unfurl them along Orange Avenue. Over time, Bill Geiss worked with the city to expedite the process and somewhat recruited Doug Weisbarth to assist him. Since then, the flag detail expanded to over ten dates, with a crew of 7-10 volunteers placing 180 flags along the route. 

 

Every Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, and more, Rotarian Doug Weisbarth and his merry volunteers start the procession at 7 a.m. with an accompaniment of patriotic music. “Some people along the route always tell me that the music is too loud at 7 a.m.,” he tells me, “but I don’t feel bad. What we’re doing is a tradition as American as apple pie.” Typically, the flag detail honors major holidays but is always open to accepting additional events and acknowledging extraordinary circumstances, often at the behest of the City of Coronado or other community groups. “People will ask me, hey, there’s a carrier group coming home from an 8-month deployment, or if we want to commemorate a fallen Navy Seal, and I say, sure, happy to help,” says Doug. 

 

Running from the footsteps of Centennial Park at First Street to the Hotel Del, these Rotarians donate their time to decorate the main thoroughfare, to remind us of the sacrifice, the privilege, and the honor that is uniquely American, and in turn, what it means to live and breathe in Coronado. And sometimes, the job is to educate the public as to why they are placing flags along the roadway.“ Let me tell you a little story,” says Doug. “There’s one holiday that people always ask why? Why are you putting flags out today?” He continues, “I bet you can’t guess. It’s Flag Day, and we all have a little laugh when I tell them that.”

 

Another way that these Rotarians give back is that along the route, they like to “police” the median of trash and debris. The group spends time in the morning and afternoon cleaning and clearing the course as yet another way to maintain and contribute to the picturesque scenery. Doug said his team was undeterred when asked how he and his crew adapted to the current climate and situation of the stay-at-home order. “Typically we have the Police Volunteers follow the (flag) trailer to make sure nobody drives into it and hits the workers. But with the Pandemic lockdown, the Police Volunteers were all furloughed.” So, working with the City of Coronado, Doug was able to get a highly effective, smaller group of volunteers to place the flags on their route, but this time with active duty Police escort. “It was kinda fun. Everyone was socially distanced and in good spirits.”