RENO - For the first time in 16 years, the community of Reno will not celebrate Flag Day with a parade and gathering.
But a member of the Reno Lions Club, which organizes the event, said this will only be a temporary break and the event will return in 2013.
"We ... did not get the building in time," said Janice Arnold, Reno Lions Club member and governor of Lions district 13K. "It was just an oversight. We had a date set and ready to go on it."
The annual parade culminates in a ceremony at the Marietta Township Park and Recreation Center. But when the club went to schedule the event for June 10, they found all Sundays and Saturdays in June were booked, Arnold said.
"You just expect the building to be available, and it wasn't," she said, noting all the bookings are a sign of how useful the facility is to the community.
The parade draws hundreds of people. During the ceremony, veterans in attendance and Reno's Citizen of the Year are recognized, and a meal follows. Without the building to serve as a gathering place, the decision was made to forego the event this year.
"Some people have been disappointed," Arnold said. "Some people, when we tell them the reason why, they understand."
Arnold said there likely will not be a Citizen of the Year chosen this year.
The building has already been booked for the Sunday before Flag Day next year, Arnold said.
Marietta Township Trustee John Lankford said he's disappointed to hear the celebration won't happen this year but is optimistic to see it return in the future.
"It was a nice event for the community to get together," he said. "This probably would've been a good year (for the parade) because it's an election year."
Lankford said the Reno Lions Club, to which he belongs but is not an active member, seems to be going through a transitional phase but he's optimistic the Flag Day celebration will return. He described the group as a good organization that does a lot for the community.
