As Memorial Day approaches, the city of Santa Clarita is preparing for its third year of the Hometown Heroes Military Banner Program.
The program seeks to honor actively-serving military members from the Santa Clarita Valley with street light pole banners. These banners are displayed three times a year: Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Veterans Day. This program was initiated by Councilmember Bob Kellar.
About five years ago, Kellar drove through Huntington Beach for a funeral, and he saw banners honoring United States soldiers.
“I wanted to make that, by golly, a program we could make in Santa Clarita,” said Kellar.
The city recently redid the program’s website, adding a search function where visitors to the site can view members of the military honored by the program by branch and rank. Friends and family members can now submit a request to honor actively serving military members from the Santa Clarita Valley with a free banner on the program’s website.
”It’s just such a special program that we wanted to make sure that the website reflected the commitment of our community,” said Carrie Lujan, the city of Santa Clarita’s communications manager.
Both street pole and digital banners feature the military member’s photograph, name, rank and the branch of the military they serve. Additionally, online banners have the option to include a brief description.
While orders for street pole banners are accepted at any time, the deadline for this year’s Memorial Day is April 23, according to the City of Santa Clarita.
Each banner costs $417.50 plus tax, but are currently being discounted by $100 due to sponsors. When the military member is no longer in the service, the family may keep the banner as a memento.
Those interested in the program can contact Kellar at [email protected] or visit santa-clarita.com/heroes.
