Veteran’s Day is just around the corner and what perfect way to celebrate vets by honoring them with a special banner- that’s what a small town in Michigan did.
In Grayling, Michigan, most of the signs up now either feature veterans who work downtown or have close ties to this main street area.
“I think it means a lot to all of us”, said Kate Devries–McIsaac, who sponsored a banner. I’m the daughter of a veteran, a sister of a veteran, the spouse of a veteran, so its very important to us. Plus, being a military town, its super important to all of us.
Walking through downtown Grayling, it won’t take long before you run into someone in the military, or one of their relatives. Resident Tim Rombach could not be happier. “We’re proud of the people in our community.” So, when Grayling’s downtown board heard about a town in Kansas hanging banners with local veterans on them.
“It occurred to me while we were there that It was just a really excellent idea,” said Rae Gosling, the Program Director for Grayling Main Street. We’ve got Camp Grayling right here in our back yard and it didn’t make sense that we weren’t doing something that was more active and engaging with those folks and honoring the folks who served there and serve our country more.”
Banners hanging up this year are part of a pilot program, with veterans chosen mostly by business owners downtown and members of the main street board. With a donation, you can sponsor a banner. Any profits made will go to Grayling Main Street, the Crawford county historical museum and the naval sea cadet corps at camp Grayling.
“We’re a military town. We want to have that sense of place that we belong here,” said Tim Rombach.