Wooster Emblem Club donates 36th flag

  • Patricia Faulhaber
  • June 21, 2012
  • 339
                        
Summary: Wooster Emblem Club donates the 36th flag to the Wayne County Commissioners. The flags have flown over the courthouse since 1976. Main Article: Ever wonder where the flag that waves from above the Wayne County Courthouse comes from every year? It is donated by The Wooster Emblem Club #374. The club donates a flag every year to the Wayne County Commissioners which gets placed at the top of the Wayne County Courthouse. The club is well known for doing many things in the community but members are best known as the “flag ladies.” It all started in 1975. At the time, the courthouse had never had a flag fly over it so the Wooster Emblem Club made it a mission to raise the needed monies to solve the problem. Within a year, the club raised money to buy and install a flagpole. On Flag Day, June 14, 1976, they donated the first flag, a 15 by 25 foot Garrison American Flag. The flag was raised and unfurled perfectly in the breeze. This year, the 36th flag donated by the Wooster Emblem Club is also a 15 by 25 foot American flag. The commissioners said that the maintenance department will install the flag on a day without much of a breeze. “We have the flag reinforced every year to help keep it from too much wear and tear in the weather and it gets replaced with a smaller flag during the winter if the weather is too bad,” said Alta Bucher, president of the Wooster Emblem Club. “We hold fundraisers throughout the year, many local businesses and individuals also donate to help us buy the flags,” she said. In total, the club has donated $16,200 in flags to the courthouse since 1976. Bucher said through the club’s flag fund, they provide flags to line Liberty St. each year before the Memorial Day parade. They have also provided flags to schools and other residents through the Wayne County Commissioners. The Wayne County Commissioners, Jim Carmichael, Scott S. Wiggam and Ann M. Obrecht, thanked the group for the donation and mentioned that the flag can be seen all over town by people coming into the downtown area. The nationwide Emblem Club organization was organized over 86 years ago. Community Emblem Clubs can be found all over the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii. The club started when a group of ladies from the Protective Order of Elks began meeting to wrap bandages for World War I. Today, members have diverse talents and abilities and come from all age groups. Photo: Patricia Faulhaber


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