by Geoff Fox
Hancock Rotary honored local heroes over the Fourth of July weekend with American flags planted beside the Veterans Memorial in Widmeyer Park.
This was the fifth year Rotary has sponsored the Flags of Heroes Project.
Since May, Rotary had been accepting sponsorship forms where people could sponsor a flag in honor of or in memory of a person they feel is a hero.
Those honored could be active military, veterans, teachers, police officers, firefighters, or any other person deemed a hero.
This year, there were 344 flags, which Immediate Past President Jan Weber said was the most flags they’ve had in the five years of planting the flags.
“I think that over the past five years, more people are seeing the display in the park, on social media, and through word of mouth and are now adding to our list of repeat sponsors,” Weber said.
Weber said Rotary was very appreciative to the Town of Hancock for permitting the project to be next to the Veterans Memorial in Widmeyer Park and their continued generosity in sponsoring flags.
Despite the weather not cooperating, it took a small group of Rotary members about an hour to plant the flags last Tuesday, July 1, to plant the rows of flags.
Weber said the work for the flags actually begin as soon as we receive forms and sponsorships come in.
Leading up to the planting the flags, each flag is checked for damage, ironed, and a tag with the honoree’s name and sponsor’s name is attached.
“We take time to keep the flags together when an individual has sponsored more than one,” Weber said.
The flags were on display in the park until 
Tuesday, July 8.
