American Flags Across St. Francis: Tradition Nearing 20th Year

ST. FRANCIS, WI — Small town patriotic displays anywhere in America would have a tough time competing with what has become a yearly 4th of July weekend tradition in St. Francis, Wisconsin, a suburb just south of Milwaukee.

Greg Schlecht, owner of the Greg’s True Value hardware store in town, has led the way in lining every street in town with American flags ahead of the 4th of July for 19 years, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.

He started it as an honor for his dad, a Korean War veteran who just turned 90.

“It’s a family thing,” Schlecht, owner of the store on Layton Avenue for 25 years, told the Journal Sentinel of the American flag placements throughout the city.

The “family thing” has expanded to include all of St. Francis, with a record number of volunteers headed out Saturday to place the nearly 3,000 flags across the city.

Schlecht still pays for all the flags himself, spending about $2,500 on the effort.