Oklee dedicates City of Oklee Flag

On Friday, September 30th, in the morning, a ceremony was held at the southwest corner of RLCC School property near the Welcome to Oklee sign. The occasion was to dedicate the new City of Oklee flag.

This project began over a year ago, with Matthew Genova, who moved to Oklee a number of years ago. Many cities around the world have city/town flags and Genova thought it was important for community pride. So he embarked on a campaign to make this happen.

Genova talked to the City Council, the RLCC School board, and others. He opened a bank account at Security State Bank for donations and has set out cans for donations at local businesses. Donations are still being accepted at Security State Bank for the replacement of flags as needed. 

Genova's original plan was to have the RLCC High School art class design the flag, but it didn't pan out. Not to be deterred, Genvoa looked for a graphic artist and found Courtney Salo.

Courtney Salo designed a number of flags for Genova to look at. Genova showed the designs to a number of folks and one stood out, which became the final design.

Genova again went to the City of Oklee and the Oklee School Board lining things up, and on September 30th, after the flags and pole were installed, a ceremony was held.

Many people from the community attended along with American Legion Post 159, the Honor students from RLCC High School and the Mayor of Oklee, George Burthwick.

And of course, the designer, Courtney Salo was invited and she was also present. 

Matthew also invited the two churches in Oklee, however, Father Adam Hamness from St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church was unable to attend. But he had blessed the flags the day before.

On the day of the ceremony, Pastor Margaret Jacobus, from Oklee Lutheran Parish, was present and also blessed the flag before it was lifted into the air by three members of original families that settled in Oklee, Cliff Melby, Harold Cyr and Earl Swenson.

During the writing of this article you have heard the reference to two (2) flags. 

Yes, there are two flags. The one that was dedicated on Friday at the corner by the school/veteran's park and there was another installed along with the United State flag outside of the Oklee Municipal Building, downtown Oklee.

By Bonny Cote