Earlier this year the Alexander Ross branch of the Royal Canadian Legion unveiled plans for a legacy project that would showcase area veterans.
The project revolved around the creation of two-sided banners profiling a different veteran’s picture on each side, listing their name, their area of service, and the family sponsor.
The banners would be installed 4 - 8 weeks before Remembrance Day and would be taken down shortly after November 11, each year.
“The banners would be a point of colour, interest and history in our downtown area, and more importantly, would bring honour to our veterans,” Tami Hall told a meeting of Yorkton Council earlier this year.
The group plans to include veterans from the past and the present - citizens from our city and immediate area, Metis and Treaty 4 Indigenous veterans, and veterans that may not presently live here, but that have a connection to our city.
The final design work on the banners has been completed, and they are now ready to take applications for the first veterans to be honoured, Hall told Yorkton This Week Monday.
“It might be a bit more of a challenge given the circumstances this year, but we hope people will still want to honour family, friends and neighbours,” said Hall.
In year-one of the project the Legion hopes to install 50 banners this October, which would allow 100 veterans to be recognized as they are two-sided, said Hall.
The banners cost $200 per side, with an expectation they will hang for five years, depending on the impact of weather on the banners.
Hall said so far the response of the community has been outstanding with many people involved “in trying to make this happen.”
The next step is to get people to apply for banners. Applications can be picked up at the Legion offices Monday, Wednesday or Friday
from 9 a.m. to noon, or found on their Facebook page. People can also email [email protected]
As for who is eligible to be honoured, Hall said they need not have been a Legion member, but they are hoping to keep them somewhat local.
“We want them to have a tie to our Yorkton area,” she said, adding they can have served in one of the major wars, served in NATO peacekeeping, drive ambulance, or been with the RCMP.
“It’s people who have served our country,” she said.
Hall said they also welcome people to fund a banner who do not have a specific veteran in mind, suggesting it might be a project for schools, adding the Legion will help find a veteran to be honoured by such groups.
While the goal in year-one is to install 50 banners, honouring 100 veterans, each year after that for the next four years, the Legion hope to install about 50 more, until we they reach the limit of 270 banners – the number of city-approved light posts for installation.
