LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Lafayette honors Veterans


Lafayette Rotarians raise the first of the many United States flags Nov. 6 that fly downtown to honor all veterans, in what they hope will become a new tradition for the city. Photo Pippa Fisher

The Lafayette Rotarians have started a new tradition that they hope will continue for years to come, as downtown Lafayette businesses proudly fly the United States flag to mark Veterans Day.

When Rotarian Mary Lou Till first approached the city council a few weeks ago, it was with the request that the Rotarians be allowed to fly their flags on the city-owned Plaza. After consultation with the city attorney, the council advised her that the city would not permit it, but from that conversation came a suggestion by Mayor Mike Anderson that perhaps they could get businesses to display the flags on private properties instead.

And that is how a group of Rotarians, fueled by Johnny's Donuts came to be assembled on a recent blustery November day in the McCaulou's parking lot as they started the process of hanging all the flags from the Safeway/Wholefoods parking lots to La Fiesta Square, The Mercantile, and the CVS and Trader Joe's parking lot.

Till gives special appreciation to Steve Cortese, Joan Bruzzone, Diablo Foods, Bill Eames, Trader Joe's, Bank of the West, The Wayside Inn, and Richard Whitmore for their help, along with Ace Hardware who was an integral partner in providing flag poles and hardware.

Veterans Day, originally called Armistice Day, is always marked in the United States on Nov. 11 to commemorate the armistice signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, at the end of the First World War. The day honors all of those who have served the country.