Weiser Elks to host Flag Day on Friday, June 14

The Weiser Elks Lodge is holding its annual Flag Day celebration on Friday, June 14.

 The event, to be held at Elks Lodge No. 1683 at 38 W. Idaho, is open to the public.

 “Yes, this is 100 percent open to the public and we’d like for everyone to come and enjoy the celebration,” said Elks Lodge member and former Exalted Ruler, Ken Salzsieder. “We’ve been doing this for 78 years, as long as we have been in Weiser.”

 The official program begins at 3:30 p.m. and includes song, introduction by current Exalted Ruler Tim Fiscus and other Elks members, prayer, history of the flag, Pledge of Allegiance, and a Patriotic Address.

 The entire ceremony lasts about 30 minutes and all are invited to stick around for a social hour.

 “The general public,  or  the non-Elk members, can stay and have a drink at the Elks social quarters if they wish, and stay to order one of our basket dinners,” Fiscus said. “We have the best and cheapest food in town.”

 Social hour begins at roughly 4 p.m. and basket orders are prepared around 5 p.m. Fiscus said that an updated Weiser Elks calendar includes karaoke the first Friday of every month and Jukebox Tribute Night the second Friday of every month.

 “I’ve done an old-time country tribute and a Neil Diamond tribute that was really fun and successful. We doubled our attendee population for dinner and at the bar because of those tributes,” Fiscus said.

 The third Friday of every month will be the Elk’s pool tournament, which has been resurrected after a hiatus.

 “We are bringing that back, so if we get the pool league going, we’re going to have a trophy based on monthly performance and crown an Elks Pool Champion of the Year,” Fiscus explained. “We are also bringing back our fishing tournament where the winner is the one who brings in the most cut and prepared-for-the-freezer crappie and then their name will go on a trophy annually. The fish brought in is what will get used for our big annual fish fry.”

 The Flag: The American flag was created around the time of the American Revolution, which broke in 1775.

 “The day celebrates the birth of our flag,” said former Weiser Elks Exalted Ruler, Dick Sullender in 2023. “Flag Day itself was actually started by the Elks. It celebrates and commemorates our country and our flag as a symbol of who we are as a nation. We are American, we are patriotic, and the flag represents that.”

 The first observation of Flag Day took place in a one-room schoolhouse in Waukesha, Wis. on June 14, 1885 when schoolteacher Bernard Cigrand asked his students to write essays about the U.S. flag to celebrate the 108th anniversary of the flag’s creation by an act of the Continental Congress. 

 Cigrand advocated the celebration of Flag Day the rest of his life. The special day began to take hold and, in 1907, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks became the first national organization to officially celebrate it. 

 It became mandatory for all Elks lodges in 1911.

 The first national Flag Day was celebrated on June 14, 1916, following a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson, but the celebrations were sporadic until 1946 when President Harry Truman signed a bill into law, making Flag Day an official annual national observance.