BELLEFONTE — The first thing people notice are the faces.
They look out from the light poles lining downtown Bellefonte. They’re framed in red, white and blue, paired with a name, a branch and they capture a moment in time. For many families, it is the first time a loved one’s service has been honored so publicly. For others, it is a tradition they return to every time the banners come back, because some kinds of gratitude do not fade.
Historic Bellefonte Incorporated is preparing to launch the sixth round of its Hometown Hero Banners program, an initiative that began in 2015 and has since honored hundreds of local veterans and first responders.
“It was actually Renee Brown that brought the idea to Historic Bellefonte Incorporated,” Deb Berger said. “She was originally from down in the Lockhaven area and they had been doing it for a number of years. And she decided she thought it was something that Bellefonte should be doing. And that was in 2015.”
Berger joined the committee that same year, after being approached because of her work advocating to rename the High Street bridge as Veterans Bridge.
“At that particular time, I was not part of Historic Bellefonte Incorporated, but I was in the process of getting the High street bridge renamed,” Berger said. “Sally and Renee reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be part of the committee to do the banner since it kind of tied in with what I was doing with the bridge.”
What began as a veterans banner initiative has since expanded to include local first responders.
“We have since moved it into veteran and hometown first responders because we felt they also are our heroes,” Berger said. “The firemen, the police, the EMS, all of those we consider our hometown heroes.”
The banners are displayed for two years at a time, a decision the committee made to keep the display respectful.
“We still are doing the two years because we have found out that the banners, even though they’re very good quality, we have worked with the same company doing the banners since the inception of it in 2015, that after a while, some of them get a little worn weather wise, and they just were not respectful to the hero that was hanging,” Berger said.
This year’s banner dedication will coincide with a new event — an America 250 Celebration Parade scheduled for Friday, July 3 — followed by a ceremony in Talleyrand Park.
Instead of holding the dedication around Veterans Day as in past years, the committee decided to move the event to Independence Day weekend.
“Instead of decorating and dedicating it in November, which we always did at Veterans Day, because that’s how it started. Let’s do it over fourth of July,” Berger said. “It is respectful to not only the veterans but also the first responders. So, let’s do it in conjunction with the parade.”
Berger said veterans will serve as grand marshals of the parade and encouraged any local veterans who want to participate to get in touch.
“We are having the veterans be the grand marshals for the parade,” Berger said. “So, I need any and all veterans that want to be part of this.”
For Berger, the work is deeply personal. Her oldest brother, Major Lewis P. Smith II, has been missing in action since the Vietnam War. That experience, she said, shaped her sense of duty to veterans and their families.
“It’s not only my honor to do this. I think it’s my duty to make everybody aware what these veterans have been through for us,” Berger said.
The banner unveilings often become emotional gatherings for families.
“The loved ones go and uncover them. And that is so emotional for so many of these family members to see their loved one on display for everyone to honor,” Berger said.
She recalled one family traveling from across the state to stand beneath a single pole downtown, sharing stories and memories together.
“They were just standing around that pole for the longest time,” Berger said, “reminiscing about stories that they remember their grandfather telling them.”
Some banners honor multiple generations. Others tell extraordinary stories, including one display currently downtown honoring six brothers — the O’Leary brothers — all of whom served in World War II.
“As a mother, I couldn’t imagine sending six of my sons off,” Berger said.
Following the parade and banner dedication, a 75-minute patriotic concert featuring a combined Bellefonte and State College community bands will be held in Talleyrand Park. Ethnic tasting tables are also planned, a suggestion by Lorraine Mulfinger to help reflect America’s diversity.
To help ease parking concerns, a shuttle bus will run from Faith United Methodist Church behind Bellefonte Area High School to Talleyrand Park starting at 4:30 p.m. and continuing through the end of the concert. Berger encourages visitors to bring a lawn chair to be comfortable during the concert.
For more information on the banners and how to participate, go to visitbellefonte.com or on Facebook at Bellefonte Hometown Hero Banner Project. Berger said hardcopy forms are available at Kerry Benninghoff’s office on High Street, the Bellefonte Borough building and the Bellefonte train station.
Long after the parade ends and the music fades from Talleyrand Park, the banners will remain, watching over downtown, telling stories without speaking. For the families who sponsored them and the veterans who lived them, they are more than symbols. They are proof that service is remembered, and that in Bellefonte, it still matters.
