Joint effort between LDI and VFW; banners will remain up through July 4th
By Megan Cullins
LURAY — After seeing the trend flow from one small town to another all across the Shenandoah Valley, new banners now line Main Street in Luray to honor the town’s veterans. The banners went up in mid-May for Memorial Day and will remain up through the 4th of July.
Starting from Deford Avenue by Green Hill Cemetery, a total of 32 electrical poles carry the images of 128 veterans stretching west to Memorial Drive at the entrance to Page Memorial Hospital. The veterans currently on the banners were chosen by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the only condition is that the veteran has to be living or has to have been living in Luray. The project was a joint effort by the Luray Downtown Initiative (LDI) and Luray’s VFW Comer-Jones Post 621 Ladies Auxiliary.
“We had a lot of logistics to work out…so Shirley Fleharty and her team, they took it over and they brought it to fruition and I think they’ve done an amazing job,” said Jackie Wood, LDI’s program director.
Through word of mouth, many in the community have heard about the project and have reached out about having their family members represented. However, there are limited spaces. The electrical poles currently being utilized on Main Street were approved by Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative, who decided how many of those electric poles would be available.
So, after the current banners are removed following the “Downtown Get Down” on Saturday, July 4, they will later be replaced with new banners of other veterans.
Wood also said that their goal is to get more polls allotted to this project.
“My dad and husband are on one [banner]. There are some fathers, sons. There are some brothers. So people had the option of putting people together on a banner as they bought them,” said Shirley Fleharty, junior vice president of the Ladies Auxiliary for VFW Post 621.
Veterans and their families have to pay $55 for each individual banner.
“We will keep this project going on indefinitely,” said Wood. “We’re going to work on it as long as we can. And of course, we hope that these banners will be going up for many years to come.”
For more information on Luray VFW Post 621,
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My Daughter Jacklyn Danielle Sullivan was in the navy for 8 years,how do I get a banner with her on it,I have a picture of her in uniform if that’s what’s needed.
Mr. Sullivan, please contact the VFW Post 621 Ladies Auxiliary or LDI…and they can direct you from there. You may also contact Shirley Fleharty directly. You can reach Jackie Wood at LDI at the office number 540-743-7700.