By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor
While people throughout Greenwich will most likely hit one of Greenwich’s pristine beaches, cook those perfect hot dogs and burgers on the grill and enjoy some colorful fireworks this 4th of July, Greenwich resident Ed Dadakis believes that having people get up early to celebrate the country at Town Hall is a perfect way to start the day.
At 9 a.m. on the front steps of Greenwich Town Hall will be a flag raising ceremony to celebrate Independence Day. In addition to the original American flag raised at Town Hall, there will be flags of the original 13 colonies, veterans honored, a salute to patriots from the American Revolution, and awards presented to students in Greenwich, as well as some lively music and a reading from the Declaration of Independence.
“I see a lot of people that I know well on both sides of the isle,” said Dadakis, who is the master of ceremonies for the flag raising event. “This isn’t about politics. It’s about America. The one thing that we can all agree on is that America is a great country. She’s been around for 243 years and every one that comes out on Thursday is going to pray that she’s around for another 243 years or more.”
While the event takes place at Greenwich Town Hall, where republicans and democrats consistently battle for all items important to them, this event goes well beyond politics. Dadakis, a lifelong Greenwich resident who served on the RTM for nearly four decades, was is the Town’s representative in the 36th Senatorial District on the Connecticut Republican State Central Committee, said that a lot of work goes into coordinating Thursday’s flag raising ceremony and that dozens of Greenwich residents volunteer their time to make sure the event goes off without a hitch.
“It’s not about politics,” said Dadakis. “It’s all about celebrating America. There’s a lot of work to coordinate this event. We raise the flag and salute our nation, but we also are saluting individual people. We are giving Greenwich students Good Citizen Awards. The Boy Scouts will hold the flags of the original 13 colonies. The Sound Beach Fire Company band will be there. It’s really a widespread opportunity for many Greenwich residents to be involved.”
The idea for this event came to fruition while Bea Crumbine was looking at some of the events throughout town during the year. She noticed that the Town of Greenwich would raise a flag from Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day and an Italian flag on Columbus Day, but nothing really took place on July 4th.
“It was a holiday and everything was closed,” Dadakis said. “Now we started doing this flag raising, just as we do to honor other countries, to honor our own country. I find that especially poignant as you look and see all the people that get up early on a holiday to celebrate our nation and who we all our as Americans.”
What makes the July 4 Flag Raising at Town Hall so special for Dadakis is how unique it is, especially when the students that attend one of the public or private schools in Greenwich get honored with that Good Citizen Award.
“They are selected among their schools, so there’s a process each school follows,” Dadakis said. “When I look at these children each July 4 that receive the award, these are the leaders of tomorrow and I know that at some point they maybe will be our First Selectman or our State Representative or maybe our Congressman or Governor.”
