Just as dawn was breaking on Memorial Day, a Delphos service club unveiled a patriotic display.
The “Avenue of Flags” is a fundraising project that was adopted by Optimist International, which involves putting flags out in front of businesses, homes, and schools on certain holidays thanks to sponsorships. For the past 10 years, the Delphos Club has been getting community support to put out 400 flags around the city and the response has continued to grow.
“I think we picked up twenty more spots this year, as far as where we put them out. We are one of the smaller group,” says Jason Schnipke of the Delphos Optimist Club. “We really got this idea from an Optimist Club in Centerville. They have a huge program. They put out about 3000 flags every time. We're small scale but it makes a big impact.”
The flags stayed up until dusk on Memorial Day, then the members along with the help of the local Boy Scout Troop retired the flags until the 4th of July. There are 5 holidays a year that the Optimists put out the flags.
