Red, white and blue lined Main Street on Labor Day with the help of El Cajon’s Boy Scout Troop 303, which works closely with the El Cajon Main Street Flag Program. Supported by local organizations and private donations, the Flag Program lines Main Street with Old Glory eight holidays a year. Dal Watkins, Flag Program committee member said the program has worked with the local Boy Scouts for 13 years now, and he has seen many of them grow up, but they still come out to help and see the flags as they fly down Main from Chambers Street to Ballantyne Street.
Red, white and blue lined Main Street on Labor Day with the help of El Cajon’s Boy Scout Troop 303, which works closely with the El Cajon Main Street Flag Program. Supported by local organizations and private donations, the Flag Program lines Main Street with Old Glory eight holidays a year. Dal Watkins, Flag Program committee member said the program has worked with the local Boy Scouts for 13 years now, and he has seen many of them grow up, but they still come out to help and see the flags as they fly down Main from Chambers Street to Ballantyne Street. And the Boy Scouts get an early start in the day, beginning the placement of the flags by 7:00 a.m.
On this Labor Day, Beth Noyes showed up to see a flag she donated which had a brass plaque in honor of her father, World War II veteran Raymond George Noyes. She made a donation in his honor as he passed away a few weeks before the Labor Day holiday.
St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center CEO Debra Emerson and her family came out to see the flag they donated in memory of their father, William D. Johnson, a 27-year Air Force veteran “and loving Dad.”
Emerson said that the family thought it was fitting to have a flag in his honor. After 27 years in the Air Force, he moved his family from Germany and retired in El Cajon. The family has been here ever since.
The El Cajon Flag Program is run by donations alone and with a donation of $100 or more, the contributor may choose to have a brass nameplate attached to the flagpole in support of a program or in a memorial message. The Flag committee displays the flags on Martin Luther King’s birthday, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.
All donations are accepted and payment can be made to the El Cajon Rotary Foundation, the acting treasurer for this project. For more information on how to donate, or dedicate a flag, contact El Cajon Main Street Flag Program Coordinator Dal Watkins at (619)-447-7691.
