Behind the banners: Galion American Legion ready for new rounds of faces and buyers

Oksana Kotkina, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum
·4 min read

The first thing that immediately makes Crawford County stand out to visitors is the banners featuring portraits of veterans that hang on the street lamps in the downtowns of Bucyrus, Galion and New Washington.

Turns out, this noble tradition started just a few years ago in Galion when Tanesha Pickering, the executive director of the Galion History Center, and her husband returned from a road trip through southern Ohio and West Virginia.

This weekend, Galion families and residents will the opportunity to sign up for a banner to hang up on Harding Way.

Sign-ups will take place at the American Legion Post 243 Banquet Hall, 118 S. Market St., on Saturday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The next sign-up date is planned for 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6. More than 200 spaces are available.

John Ernsberger pauses hangs banners honoring local veterans along Sandusky Avenue in Bucyrus in 2022. The banner is similar to how the banners in Galion and other communities in the area look as well.
John Ernsberger pauses hangs banners honoring local veterans along Sandusky Avenue in Bucyrus in 2022. The banner is similar to how the banners in Galion and other communities in the area look as well.

Country roads of West Virginia sometimes bring to unexpected destinations

On their road trip, back in 2017, Pickering said, they went through a small town where the local veteran banners were hanging. The Pickerings were immediately intrigued, and decided to explore it back home.

“I thought it was a really cool idea,” Pickering said.

She presented the idea to the Galion History Center, and after some brainstorming, the center identified Photorama photo studio in Galion to create a layout for the portraits.

The center also worked with the City of Galion, talking to Mayor Tom O’Leary, and working with the relevant departments, before it finally opened the registration for the first banners sale in 2018 to recognize the local veterans.

At that time, said Pickerington, 123 people signed up, and the event grew from there. The last year the Galion History Center did it, about 300 banners were hung, said Rita Hinklin, treasurer of the Galion American Legion Post 243 Auxiliary.

“The second year that we did it, I think there was more awareness about it, and we definitely had a huge turnout,” Pickerington said.

The Galion History Center planned to run the project for three years, but ended up doing it for four, and then looked look for someone in the community to take it over.

“We had a lot going on,” Pickerington said. “It takes a lot of work, a lot of work that goes into the veteran banners and setting them up, and working with the city.”

When the center was seeking interested organizations or individuals, the American Legion Post 243 Auxiliary stepped up in 2022, as the veterans banners aligned naturally with their goals.

Tanesha Pickering and her husband were on a road trip when they saw flags honoring veterans hanging in the downtown area of a city they went through. She liked the idea and introduced it to Galion.
Tanesha Pickering and her husband were on a road trip when they saw flags honoring veterans hanging in the downtown area of a city they went through. She liked the idea and introduced it to Galion.

American Legion conditions for banners’ purchase

Hinklin said the banners are now sold each year in a two-year cycle. After two years, the owners of the banners have an option of requesting =their banners stay longer for an additional fee.

Hinklin said they are usually the veterans’ family members or the veterans themselves who buy the banners. To order a banner, interested individuals should provide a 5x7 or 4x6-inch photo of the veteran for Photorama to work with to create the banners.

“We don’t give the pictures back,” she said.

The 2024 banners cost $51, and they will hang for two years. The fee for re-hanging a banner from the previous years is $10. Proceeds benefit veteran charities. Last year the Legion cleaned the Veterans Memorial in Heise Park.

“We haven’t decided what we might do this year with the proceeds,” Hinklin said.

She said the banners that used to be placed in Heise Park and on Harding Way are now put only on Harding Way since the number of banners sold annually declined. If the number of banners goes up again, said Hinklin, the Legion will put them up in Heise Park, as well as on the main street of the city.

Hinklin said she had numerous phone calls this year about purchasing banners, which will be put up around Mother’s Day and remain through Veterans Day.

Tradition grows

Hinklin said that gradually, communities like Marion, Mount Gilead and New Washington introduced =banners as well.

Pickering said Mount Gilead had a committee that reached out to Galion for advice on getting started with the banners.

“It definitely had a ripple effect for sure,” Pickering said. “It was definitely a big hit.”

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Galion American Legion taking veteran banner orders Saturday