It’s a West Seattle Labor Day tradition dating back 17 years – Alki Masonic Lodge #152 swaps the American flag that’s flown outside its Junction building for a new one. This year, veterans from three VFW posts carried out the ceremony.
After lowering the old flag and raising the new one, three of the VFW visitors – Darrell Pilat from Post 1263 in Renton, Thomas Snead from Post 2224 in Puyallup, and West Seattle Post 2713’s Jesse Palacios – carefully folded the old one and presented it to the Lodge’s Worshipful Master Michael Riley, who was among those watching from the lot below:
Riley explained that, pragmatically, the Lodge had this ceremony on Labor Day rather than, say, the Fourth of July, because more people tend to be in town.
In short remarks about the ceremony itself, he said the flag deserved to fly over the Lodge as a symbol of freedom.
The VFW reps were joined by Traci Williams, a past state commander from Post1263,who watched rather than participating this year. She and the other three are also regular participants in an even-more somber duty – twice a month, they serve in the honor guard for funerals at Tahoma National Cemetery.
Today’s ceremony was followed by an indoor picnic lunch with free hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone who showed up. The lodge’s other community work includes annual awards for local high-school students (here’s our coverage of this year’s event).