An idea that started when an old city billing ‘drive thru’ receptacle was abandoned has now come to fruition.
And the patriotically painted box to collect U.S. flags for retirement is stationed outside the Escalon American Legion Post headquarters on Second Street.
Legion members point to the initial work of Escalon City Councilman Danny Fox as being the proponent for the project. Others got involved along the way, including Steve Scott at Escalon Body & Frame, whose firm did the needed repairs and painting work on the box, and Dugo Signs, which provided the lettering for the box.
It looks a lot like a mail box but is specifically for collection of tattered, torn, worn and old American flags that need to be disposed of. There is an official flag retirement ceremony that is conducted and Legion members said they perform a ‘retirement’ a couple of times a year. Flags can be dropped off safely in the box at any time. The box is bolted into the sidewalk just outside the Legion Hall at 1531 Second St., and is accessible 24 hours a day for the flag drop off.
“It was just sitting at the City Corporation Yard,” Scott explained of the old water bill drop box, removed from the site of the old City Hall on Main Street when the city moved to its new location on McHenry Avenue.
It hadn’t been formally discarded, but it was in need of some repairs, so Scott and his team did that work, then got it painted, and the lettering by Dugo Signs completed the project. Legion members then got it installed, finishing the job this past week.
Legion member Al Bellinger said he was pleased to see the project come to fruition and urged all residents that need to dispose of a flag to do so properly, putting it in the drop box.
“It’s bolted down, ready to go,” he said.
