Holton commission OKs flag addition at Linscott Park

In late 2015, American Legion Riders Post 44 and other military veteran service groups in Holton took on a fund-raising drive to have a monument honoring Jackson County’s Purple Heart Medal recipients installed in Linscott Park, a goal they were able to accomplish in May of 2017.

Now, the Legion Riders are looking to enhance the area where the Purple Heart monument is located by placing six new flagpoles to honor each of America’s military branches in time for Veterans Day — and on Monday, the Holton City Commission approved the Riders’ plan.

Legion Riders director Mike McManigal met with commissioners at their regular meeting that evening to outline a plan to place 20-foot flagpoles near an existing 30-foot flagpole that displays the U.S. and Kansas flags. That flagpole, installed in October 2020 as part of Johan Campbell’s Eagle Scout project, will serve as the centerpiece of the new flag display, McManigal said.

The flagpole project will be fully funded by the Legion Riders, which would use their own labor to construct the new flagpoles, which McManigal said would hold flags representing the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard and the recently-created Space Force.

“We have the funds to do it,” McManigal told commissioners. “We started saving money several years ago for this project.”

McManigal told commissioners that the Legion Riders began to consider ideas for adding to the area where the Purple Heart monument is located a couple years after its installation, and the installation of smaller flagpoles displaying flags to honor the country’s military service branches seemed a good fit.

The new flagpoles would be mounted around the outside of the horseshoe-shaped sidewalk at the park near the Purple Heart monument with the 30-foot flagpole as the centerpiece, he said. Each new flagpole would be mounted in a square concrete base that would abut the sidewalk and not cause issues for lawnmowers, he added.

Work on the new flagpoles would begin “Septemberish,” McManigal said, with the goal of having the poles in place and flags on them in time for Veterans Day activities in Linscott Park. The Legion Riders will also cover the cost of the military branch flags, with McManigal noting that each flag would be about two feet by three feet in size.

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