• Flag Day is celebrated with the patriotic grandeur generally reserved for July 4th, Independence Day.
• There are a handful of proudly red, white, and blue all-American communities each year.
• These competitions are about who has the first, largest, or best parades and celebrations in the US.

This day is celebrated with the patriotic grandeur generally reserved for July 4th, Independence Day. There are a handful of proudly red, white, and blue all-American communities each year.

These cities and towns compete for Flag Day bragging rights, often with contradictory claims. These competitions are about who has the first, largest, or best Flag Day parades and celebrations in the United States.

A collection of ardent Flag Day communities can be found, from sea to shining sea. It contains Midwestern cities like Appleton, Wisconsin, and Three Oaks, Michigan, as well as Fairfield, Washington, on the Palouse of the Pacific Northwest, and historic Quincy, Massachusetts, which is on the Atlantic Ocean’s Boston Harbor.

Troy, New York, was formerly on the list, with a venerable procession billed as “the nation’s greatest celebration of its sort,” according to organizers.

However, the city’s 50-year-old Flag Day tradition came to an end in 2017 due to low attendance.

Flag Day is observed on June 14 each year to commemorate the adoption of America’s familiar stars and stripes as the national flag by the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

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“Resolved,” Congress said, “that the thirteen United States’ flag be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, indicating a new constellation.”

That design is now known as the “Betsy Ross flag” by many Americans.

According to legend, the Pennsylvania flag maker was the first to weave a standard in conformity with Congress’s new direction.

In 1916, as the country debated whether or not to enter World War I, President Woodrow Wilson issued a Flag Day proclamation.

Yet, in the patriotic glory of a triumphant United States after World War II, Congress passed, and President Truman signed, a legislation designating June 14 as National Flag Day, the event received true prominence.

“Everyone should be proud of Old Glory,” says Quincy Mayor Tom Koch.

For the first time since 2019, each of these all-American communities and villages held a full lineup of Flag Day celebrations this past weekend, putting epidemic shutdowns behind them.

Appleton, Wisconsin

In 1950, Appleton conducted its inaugural Flag Day Parade. It has evolved into one of the most magnificent in the country, gathering up to 75,000 spectators who line the street dressed in red, white, and blue each year.

This year, Appleton residents and visitors braved the weather to honor our nation’s military and wave Old Glory.

The parade has evolved alongside Flag Day.

“It’s more than a parade. It’s a celebration,” Eric Stadler, assistant chairperson of the Appleton Flag Day Parade Committee says.

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Fairfield town, Washington

Only 600 people live in this little farming hamlet in Eastern Washington.

Fairfield, on the other hand, claims to have the oldest Flag Day tradition in the country.

Fairfield is proudly referred to as “The Town that Celebrates Flag Day” on its website.

Quincy city, Massachusetts

The “City of Presidents” has a long and proud tradition of patriotism. The bustling hamlet adjacent to Boston is one of America’s oldest cities — Quincy will celebrate its 400th birthday in 2025 — and the birthplace of Founding Fathers John Hancock and John Adams, as well as another US president, John Quincy Adams.

“Love our traditions and good times and great memories,” Cindy Martell Sherrick wrote on Facebook.

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Three Oaks, Michigan

This tiny Indiana border hamlet packs a patriotic punch.

Three Oaks has a population of only 1,600 people yet is home to “The World’s Largest Flag Day Parade.”

The claim is based on the quantity of units available. According to Heather Whitlow, who co-organized the event with her sister, Dyane Thomas, 126 different bands, floats, and groups marched down the streets of Three Oaks this year.