Morgan Hill residents took advantage of the newly re-installed flagpoles outside the Community and Cultural Center to conduct a unique, traditional flag raising ceremony June 4.
The ceremony started with an escort of the American and California state flags by Morgan Hill Police and Fire Department—as well as motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders, American Legion Riders and Warrior Watch Riders—to the CCC at 17000 Monterey Road. When the flags arrived, they were “ceremonially” handed over to veterans with the American Legion Post 217, which is based in Gilroy and serves Morgan Hill residents, according to Morgan Hill resident Kirk Bertolet. The veterans raised the flags atop the flagpoles for the first time since the city moved them from their previous location along Monterey Road on the CCC grounds.
Bertolet, a U.S. Air Force veteran and Patriot Guard Rider, organized the flag raising ceremony as a fulfillment of a promise to the community of Morgan Hill. He explained that a flag raising ceremony is a traditional way to honor and respect the flag when it is raised for the first time at a new location.
When the city determined the flagpoles had to be removed from their original location in order to make way for new public artwork, they were initially going to be placed at the rear entrance of the CCC, facing the facility’s parking lot. Residents contacted City Hall “en masse” to object to this location, and urged the city to place the flagpoles prominently at the front of the facility, where they can be seen from Monterey Road and Dunne Avenue, Bertolet said.
“The message to the citizens was the art was more important than the flagpoles, and that was the wrong message,” Bertolet said. “The citizens contacted the city and said the front is the best location. To honor that, I said I would do a flag raising ceremony, and I did.”
The ceremony was attended by local elected officials, city staff and a wide range of Morgan Hill residents.
Morgan Hill Program Administrator Anthony Eulo was invited as a guest speaker. He talked about the new water-saving demonstration garden surrounding the front of the CCC, which recently replaced the facility’s old landscaping.
“We were delighted to see so many members of the community come out to celebrate our new flagpoles and our new garden,” Eulo said after the event.
Mayor Steve Tate, who attended the June 4 ceremony, was one of the city officials who heard “in no uncertain terms” that residents wanted the flagpoles placed in their current location. “They wanted it to be like it was when the old Morgan Hill School was there. It was great to have that kind of engagement with the community,” Tate said.
