Fairfield gearing up for Flag Day
There’s a saying around the community of Fairfield.
“Summer doesn’t begin until after Flag Day,” they tell you.
That’s because Flag Day in Fairfield is a very big deal. The town throws open its doors, invites the neighbors and has a grand old time celebrating our Grand Old Flag.
This year, the celebration starts June 9 with a high school dance at the Fairfield Fire Station, from 8 p.m. until midnight. The Flag Flying Fun Run followed by the Grand Parade highlight the all-day celebration June 10. The festivities conclude with a community church service at 10 a.m. June 11 at the Community Center.
Since 1910, Fairfield has celebrated Flag Day with a weekend full of activities.
This year’s theme is “This Land is Your Land.”
“During the war years, we didn’t do it so much,” historian Jerikay Thieren explained. “During those times, we just observed it. But other than that, we try to make the celebration the second weekend of June.”
It’s a community tradition on the Palouse.
Families plan reunions around the annual Flag Day celebration. Throughout the community, backyard grills will be fired up and the air will be filled with delightful aromas – especially June 10.
That doesn’t include the breakfast at the Community Center on Main Street to benefit Fairfield Emergency Medical Technicians, or the all-day festivities in Thiel Park. The Party in the Park kicks off at 9 a.m. June 10, with booths filled with local crafters and their wares as well as a hamburger and beer garden, which benefits the Flag Day Fund.
Entertainment in the park includes live music and a magician. The ham dinner will be at noon June 10 in the Community Center benefits the Liberty High School FFA Organization.
It’s a community celebration in the finest tradition of community.
And trust the people who live there – it takes a community to put on a celebration like Flag Day.
Planning starts just after the first of the year. Tuesday nights, the planning committee for the Flag Day Celebration meets; Thursday nights the community gets together to work on the Fairfield float, which made its debut in the Lilac Torchlight Parade and is the centerpiece in the town’s own parade.
“Every year we change the theme, so there’s planning that goes on in the fall,” Thieren said. “Mostly, the planning really starts after the first of the year.”
The planning pays off.
The Grand Parade is a spectacle.
“It usually lasts about an hour and 15 minutes,” Thieren said. “We get entrants from all the communities around here, and this year, we even get the Lilac float here to take part in the parade.”