Q&A
What is FlagSSS Day?
FlagSSS Day is not Flag Day. FlagSSS Day expands the notion of what a flag is beyond the celebration of the American Flag. FlagSSS Day is a celebration, a mourning, a collective coming together to dance in the streets, wave flags that represent us, a plurality, a queerness, an embracement of multiplicities and openness. FlagSSS Day is held around June 14, the national observance of Flag Day but also the FlagSSS Day Collective has called for processions at other times of the year outside of this one date.
How long is the Flagsss Day Celebration?
1-2 hours
Where does it go?
There is no set route, but the Flagsss Day Collective usually picks a beginning and end point so the people at the front tend to decide by consensus where the next turn will be.
What is the Flagsss Day Collective?
The FlagSSS Day Collective is Angela Beallor, Hana van der Kolk, and Elizabeth (EP) Press from Troy, NY. They engage social, political, spiritual, and environmental issues creatively in public spaces, using flags. They pay respect to long traditions intertwining celebration and dissent, while staying responsive, flexible, and nimble. Since 2019, FlagSSS Day processions and rituals have occurred in June and beyond – offering an election day procession (2020) and a ritual for the crows and against displacement of community members. With a 2023 NYSCA grant, they commissioned artists to make flags, hosted a gallery show, and offered multiple public flag-making workshops.
What was the Flag Day Parade that FlagSSS Day Reclaimed?
In Troy, the Flag Day parade started in the 1960s as a response to the protests around the American War in Vietnam. It grew to be self-claimed as the largest Flag Day celebration in the country. Over the years, funding got tight and eventually ended in 2018.
What is Flag Day?
In 1916 President Wilson issued a proclamation asking for June 14 to be observed as the National celebration of Flag Day. On August 3, 1949, Congress approved the national observance, and it was signed into law.