It is easy to see why rows of American flags commanded Shirley Chambers’ attention.
Because the striking sight of Mineral Point’s Avenue of Flags, in its 30th year, makes many people stop, look and think.
“I can’t believe it is 30 years,” Chambers said. “It seems just impossible, but it is. It makes me cry.”
On a genealogy trip to Pipestone, Minnesota, Chambers saw rows of flags rippling in the breeze in a cemetery at dusk.
“It was amazing. It took my breath away,” she said.
She came back to Mineral Point and approached Francis and Diane Smith about doing something similar here.
“We’ll do that, we’ll help you,” Diane Smith remembers saying. “We didn’t know what we were getting into. We didn’t know it would be so big, but I’m so glad it is.”
They expected 30 the first year, Memorial Day of 1996, and had 69. This year, there will be 351 flags, including five new ones this year.
“It’s just kind of grown,” Chambers said, with Smith adding, “by leaps and bounds.”
The Avenue of Flags flies for Memorial Day and the 4th of July.
The main flagpole in Mineral Point cemeteries is reserved for the unknown soldier.
The point is to honor veterans, Chambers said.
“Where would we be without them?” Smith asked.
Families of veterans purchase the poles and flags and Lands’ End embroiders the veterans’ names on the binding of the flag for free.
Original cotton flags have been replaced by nylon, which weathers better.
It is a community project, with volunteers from the school, civic groups, families and others helping to hoist the flags and then take them down a few days later. Mick and Lynn Goninen spearhead the work at St. Paul’s Cemetery.
Families return each year to find the flag with their relative’s name on it.
Their children and grandchildren have helped, and organizers are sure the Avenue of Flags will continue.
“It’s such a community project. It is a meaningful thing to the community,” Smith said. “We are proud of this. It’s been a really good project.”
It’s a lesson in local history when people walk through the cemeteries and recognize veterans they knew.
“You hear so many good stories,” Chambers said.
Memorial Day schedule
The Memorial Day parade starts at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the top of High Street, with a ceremony following at Library Park.
A drive-through chicken barbecue meal is served starting at 11 a.m. at the American Legion.
‘Lest We Forget’
A couple years after the Avenue of Flags began, Wilma Baker and Lillian Flesch said “We have to do more” to recognize veterans’ service.
They decided a weekly column about the veterans who have a flag in the Avenue of Flags in the Democrat Tribune would be appropriate.
Marlene Jones came up with the name “Lest We Forget,” which included a photograph and where the veteran served and biographical information.
Shirley Chambers wrote many of the 250 columns. “I cried a lot working at the computer,” she said.
In 2000, Chambers wrote “Our hope is that the Avenue of Flags as well as the ‘Lest We Forget’ column will keep us all ever mindful of the great sacrifices the men and women of our great country have made. It is our way of saying thank you.”
The collected columns are available at the Mineral Point Library Archives.
