In the 10 years since its Mahomet area debut, the Living Flag project, a community service of Mahomet Christian Church, has grown steadily.
This year’s presentations will be Saturday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 9 at 7 pm.
The show features a different theme each year. This year’s theme is “A Patriot Salute,” and each of the five branches that compose the American military will be honored.
The ceremony is a community veteran’s celebration featuring a speaker, a multi-media presentation, and more than 30 community members who create a living flag. The living flag is based on a living Christmas tree, and is the brain child of Pastor David Johnson. Johnson started the flag program when he was living and working as a pastor near Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.
Johnson recalled the inception of the project. “We wanted to do something to honor those who serve in the military and protect our country,” Johnson said. “The logical time to do something like that is around the fourth of July, but everyone leaves for vacation then,” he said with a laugh. Members of his Texas church decided to hold the celebration during the fall, and Veteran’s Day seemed like the logical holiday to honor those who serve or who have served in the military.
The flag itself is 15 feet wide. It has four tiers of scaffold, which someone goes to Chicago to pick up. The singers who stand on the top tier tower 21 feet above the church floor. The scaffold is decorated with 50 stars and 13 stripes made of vinyl and can hold 30 plus singers, according to Johnson.
In the 10 years since Johnson has brought the Living Flag to Mahomet, it has grown from one service on Sunday morning, to three services over a two-day period.
“About the third year, we decided to have two presentations since our parking lot was full. Our fourth or fifth year, we were too crowded again, so we decided to add a third presentation,” recalled Johnson.
Johnson said there are evening presentations on a Saturday and a Sunday, and a Saturday matinee that is very popular with local assisted living facilities and senior groups.
In 2012, 792 people saw the presentation over the three shows. Last year, that number increased to 838.
“We’re shooting for 1,000 people,” Johnson stated. “Of course we’d have to add a fourth show,” he added.
The show is free to the public and refreshments are served. It is funded by the church and any private donations are accepted.
Another element Johnson is proud of is how far away his audience travels to see the presentation. The church puts out a survey to gather information to make the following year’s presentation better, and participants have responded they came from Indiana, Decatur, and East Peoria, in addition to Champaign and surrounding counties.
This year’s Living Flag celebration includes local groups presenting the colors and providing special music. It also features Sgt. Cody McCabe, USMC, retired, as a special guest speaker.
McCabe, a Paxton native, was a Marine Corps Sergeant serving as an embassy guard when truck bombs, linked to al-Qaeda, detonated simultaneously outside the US embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and in Nairobi. McCabe said he served as an embassy guard in the African country of Tanzania. McCabe said he will talk about his service to his country during this time.
McCabe said he has attended the living flag ceremony before, and he was honored when he was asked to speak at the event. He hopes the event “will help all Americans be filled with pride and remember the great nation where we live.”
McCabe is scheduled to speak at all three events. Various community groups will be present at different times. The University of Illinois Air Force ROTC Honor Guard will present the colors on Saturday afternoon, while Rantoul’s Lincoln’s Challenge Academy color guard will present the colors Saturday evening, followed by the Mahomet American legion Post 1015 presenting the colors Sunday evening.
Sunday evening will also provide a special concert by the Singing Men of GNN, beginning at 6:30, and the Mahomet Seymour High School Madrigals will perform Sunday evening also. Lincoln’s Challenge Academy Choir will sing Saturday evening, and the Parkland College Chamber Singers will perform during Saturday’s matinee. The Air Force Detachment 190 ROTC Drill Team and the Small Wonder’s Preschool Singers will perform at all three shows.
“Our preschoolers really steal the show,” Johnson noted. Small Wonders Preschool is housed in Mahomet Christian Church.
Planning for the next year’s event happens when the surveys for the current year’s event are collected. Before summer hits, preparation for the Veteran’s Day event is in full swing, according to Johnson. One challenge is finding patriotic music that emphasizes both God and country. The next challenge is finding a speaker.
“We do not want this to be a political event. We want it to honor veterans and those who actively serve. We want the event to call us back to being a nation under God,” Johnson said.
For more information on the Living Flag, go to Mahomet Christian Church’s web site at www. mahometchristian.org
