The FlagSSS Day Collective formed in 2018 when the long-running national Flag Day celebration in Troy, NY (where we were all based at the time) ended. With respect to long histories of intertwining celebration and challenge, protest with party, dissent with a dedication to joy, we stand against the initiating rationale of the anti-dissent and imperialist patriotism that the initial Flag Day stood for. National Flag Day, though founded much earlier, gained traction in the 1960s as a patriotic and anti-dissent holiday, reacting against the anti-Vietnam War protests at the time. We recognize that many in Troy enjoyed the Flag Day parade and for some it didn’t necessarily connect to that history. However, this kind of war-mongering propaganda and action left a traumatic residue. The FlagSSS Day Collective seeks to engage our city in celebrations of multiplicity against this history. The Collective is nimble, flexible, and ever-changing, organizing joyous gatherings that move through the streets of Troy. The processions include participants of all ages (some in costume), colorful flags and banners (some bearing messages and images related to our core concerns and dedication to anti-imperialism), and music.
The first FlagSSS Day took place in June 2019. In 2020 we organized an impromptu procession on Election Day. In 2022 we hosted our second FlagSSS Day procession in June. In 2023 our FlagSSS Day procession featured commissioned banners and flags funded by the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts administered by The Arts Center of the Capital Region. We have continued to organize a FlagSSS Day procession annually in June with a different theme each year.
Our work as a collective has expanded beyond our initial response to Flag Day:
In December 2022 we organized As the Crow Flies, a parade in solidarity with the crow population of Troy (who the city government and feds were trying to disperse) and highlighting human and more-than-human comradery in general. We continue to host a Crow procession, celebration, and/or ritual annually.
In the weeks before all of our events we host community flag-making workshops in a variety of community spaces, providing time, space, materials, and solidarity for people of all ages to envision and create their own flags and banners.
In addition to our work in Troy, the FlagSSS Day Collective occasionally participates in other events; in 2024 we were part of the Quiet Parade at the Blackwood Gallery in Toronto, in September 2025 we joined Yvette Molina’s Earthling Parade at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, and in October we led a workshop at the Sister Sinister’s Lesbian Lives Conference in NYC.
Follow us on Instagram @flagsssday.troyny