Okay, good morning, everybody.

Um, good morning, distinguished guests, neighbors, friends.

Thank you for joining us today as we gather to celebrate Flag Day, a day dedicated to the very symbol that represents our home, our values, and our unity.

From schoolyards to battlefields, from front porches to the moon, the American flag has stood as a beacon of hope and resilience for nearly two and a half centuries.

Today we don't just celebrate the design of the flag, we celebrate the people, the diversity, and the ideals that keep it flying high.

Thank you all for coming out to share in this moment of community pride.

Um next up, we're going to have the Pledge of Alleas Pledge of Allegiance by Detective Greg Herring.

Yes.

Under God, indivisible liberty and justice for all.

Next, we're going to have an invocation by Bishop Leak.

Bishop, welcome.

As we bow our heads, almighty God.

We come before you today to give thanks for the blessings of freedom and the nation we call home.

As we honor our American flag, we recognize it is more than a banner or fabric of colors.

It is a symbol.

Our call to live together as neighbors and friends.

We ask that you bless this flag and all who serve under it.

May it red stand for the courage and sacrifice for those who protect our liberty.

It's white for the purity of our highest ideals, and it's blue for the vigilance required to maintain justice for all.

Guide our leaders, protect our citizens, and keep our nation under peace, hope, and purpose.

We offer you our praise and ask for your continued grace upon the United States of America.

In your name, your holy name we pray, let all let agree say Amen.

Okay.

Um I just have a few remarks.

We we we gather here today, not just to celebrate the stars and stripes, but to stand on the precipice of history.

In just a few short weeks, our nation will mark its semi-quincentenal, a massive milestone.

250 years since a courageous group of patriots signed the Direct Declaration of Independence.

For two and a half centuries, that flag has evolved, adding stars as we grew, but its core promise has never changed.

As we look up at it today, in this historic year of 250, we see the blueprint of our past, the reality of our present, and the endless horizon of our future.

Thank you again for being part of this milestone celebration.

On June 14th, 1777, the second Continental Congress passed a simple resolution declaring the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternating red and white, and 13 white stars on a field of blue.

With those words, a symbol was born.

But as we look at old glory flying above us today, we know it is much more than fabric, thread, and dye.

It is a living chronicle of American history.

The red stands for hardiness and valor.

It represents the courage of the generations who fought, sacrificed, and gave all to defend our nation's ideals.

The white signifies purity and innocence, a reminder of the clean slate upon which our founders sought to build a new kind of nation governed by the people.

It is a reminder that freedom is not a static prize we won in the past, but a constant daily pursuit.

Thank you, David.

Thank you.

Good morning, and thank everyone for coming out, coming out on this for Flag Day today.

A flag, a piece of colored cloth that's light to the touch, but carries a heavy load of a people and their history.

The American flag has changed over the course of our nearly 250 years, gaining stars and growing, just as the people who have hoisted it in the air in the cities is flown over.

The beauty of a flag is that it's a banner that can bring people together.

Our nation's motto, e pluribus unum, Latin for, out of many, one represents the best idea of this nation, that people from different nations, ethnicities, religions, and walks of life can come together and be part of something greater than themselves.

America is a constant work in progress.

But as long as we can remember the spirit of unity represented by the flag, we keep alive the spirit that makes our nation great.

Thank you.

Next up, I'd like to welcome to the stage, City Manager Wilfredo Melendez.

I think uh one thing we got to remember, and what the one of the original uh purposes of of this day was uh is to really bring together um a fractured nation under one banner.

And I think that's so so fitting that the original intent till today's meeting.

Um this day was signed as a national observance by President Truman back in 1949.

So fast forward 77 years as we prepare to celebrate this 250th anniversary of our country.

We also got to remember the lives that lived under this flag, those sacrifices that were made in honor of it, and the ideas represented by the 50 stars, the 13 stripes we fly today.

Our historian is here today to go into more details about that history, and I'm really looking forward to that.

But I just want to emphasize what the one of the true meanings was to really bring together a fractured nation.

Um, so I thank you to uh police department, fire department, buildings for keeping this going, our HR, our comms department and IT putting this event together for the 30 year in a row.

So with that, I want to hand it off to um Dennis Starr from the American Legion.

Just a couple words.

Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests and members of our community.