Aurora Boy Scouts Commemorate Memorial Day With Post The Colors Event

AURORA, IL — A tradition of local Boy Scouts providing flags to remember Aurora soldiers killed during military service continued on Monday, when the local troop placed American flags in the yards of local residents.

The fourth annual Post The Colors fundraiser by Boy Scouts of Blackhawk Troop 11 at Wesley United Methodist Church in Aurora took place on Monday as Boy Scouts helped to commemorate Memorial Day.

As part of the Post The Colors program, pairs of uniformed Scouts place flags in subscribers’ yards, or at Aurora police station. The flags are placed in yards by 7 a.m. and then retrieved by 7 p.m., organizers said.

At each placement or retrieval, Scouts salute the flag. Parents or caregivers provide transportation. For a $25 subscription, Scouts post flags on Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4 and Labor Day.

In 2021, Blackhawk Scouts posted about 350 flags in Aurora, North Aurora, Sugar Grove and Montgomery. Marianne Longo of Aurora, troop spokeswoman, said Blackhawk Scouts "rise and shine early to post flags on holidays when most kids are sleeping in on their day off.

"They start at sunrise and take one to two hours to post," Longo said in a news release. "Then all flags are retrieved before sunset that same day, again in one to two hours."

On both Memorial Day and Labor Day, Longo said that local Boy Scouts participate in Aurora's parade and wear their uniform. Each flag used in the Post The Colors program are handmade and attached to flagpoles built by Troop 11 scouts.

This year's event was sold out and all funds collected through the effort fund campouts, supplies and equipment, merit badges and more, Longo said. The effort is the Scouts’ only fundraiser.

Troop 11 owns and is responsible for the storage and maintenance of the flags. Part of BSA Three Fires Council, Blackhawk Troop 11 was founded in 1916 and is the second oldest in Illinois.

Since its formation, 181 members of Troop 11 have earned the Eagle Scout award, the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America.