Sequim Sunrise Rotary Club plans to fill the city with red, white and blue for Memorial Day.

Rotary members will erect poles displaying 3-foot by 5-foot American flags on Fir, Alder and Spruce streets between Brown Road and Blake Avenue.

This will be the Rotary Club’s first

step toward what members Tom Schaafsma and Jim Pickett call the Display the Flag project.

"Hopefully, we’ll draw enough attention to this through the community that it will become long term," Schaafsma said.

Rotarians look at the event as a community service and an opportunity for fundraising.

This display will be free, but club members hope it will inspire residents to buy tax-deductible subscriptions for $40 to display flags in front of homes on five patriotic holidays each year: Presidents Day in February, Memorial Day in May,

Independence Day in July, Labor Day in September and Veterans Day in November.

The introductory flags for Memorial Day are placed in front of residences on the morning of Saturday, May 23, and retrieved the evening of May 25. To comply with flag protocol, club members take down the flags each evening and put them up again in the early morning.

"We will give the community a snapshot of how beautiful and impressive Sequim could look with all its streets lined with American flags on each of these five holidays," Schaafsma said.

Following the Memorial Day demonstration, Rotary members contact homeowners in the demonstration area to solicit their participation for the remainder of the year.

Those interested in participating are encouraged to contact Tom Schaafsma at 683-1058 or Jim Pickett at 681-4830.

"This is a great opportunity to show your patriotism as well as to support the ongoing community service efforts and projects of your local Rotary Club," said member Gil Simon.

Rotarians structured their flag project around Boy Scout Troop 1103’s annual Washington Street flag project. The Rotarians bought the concrete blocks and flagpoles for their project from the Scouts because there are now permanent fixtures in place for the Washington St. flags.

Donations received from the Rotary flag project will benefit the Sequim Food Bank, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, Dungeness Valley Health and Wellness Clinic, local park projects, student scholarships, Habitat for Humanity, youth exchange programs, children’s playground construction, Welfare for Animals Guild and Shelter Box International.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.