Girl Scouts, Veterans of Foreign Wars and City of Miami Beach Create Place to Honor America’s Symbol of Freedom

Miami Beach, FL – Girl Scout Troup 2013 along with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Miami Beach Post 3559 and the City of Miami Beach will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 7,  2024 at 10 a.m. to mark the addition of a permanent flag box in Canopy Park at 701 West Ave. Residents and visitors will be invited to place their tattered, torn and faded U.S. flags in the box until the flags can be properly disposed of in a respectful manner.

“The placement of a permanent flag box is a way for us to honor the service of U.S. Veterans and for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” explained Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner. “Significantly, thousands of U.S. veterans settled in Miami Beach after World War II to start families and raise their children here.”

The flag box will be the first placed in a Miami Beach park as a public service. A sign describing the flag box and its purpose will be unveiled by the Scouts during the ribbon-cutting.

Scouts and Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion will care for the Miami Beach flags placed in the box and oversee their retirement at appropriate events. In 1937, the American Legion adopted a resolution stating that "the approved method of disposing of unserviceable flags has long been that they be destroyed by burning," according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The agency noted that many flag retirement services are held every Flag Day on June 14.

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WHAT: Ribbon-Cutting in Canopy Park

WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 7 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: 701 West Ave., Pedestrian Entrance