Close this alert
Hi this is Betsy from Otto’s. This Sunday, June 14, is Flag Day and it calls for a little more attention to the symbol of American freedom—the American Flag. We have just the package to share with your kids—it’s a little book in a box with a 16 by 24 inch flag. The book and the box are labeled, My First American Flag. I bet you thought (like I did) that Betsy Ross made our first American Flag. But there were many American Flags both before and since. The flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our National Anthem was designed not by Betsy Ross but by Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He tried unsuccessfully to get payment for his design. He wanted, as payment, “a quarter cask of the public wine.” He didn’t get it. This little book has lots of historical tidbits relating to flags and specific directions for the display of the flag on poles, buildings and in parades. It also tells you never to fly the flag upside down unless you are signally “distress.” My First American Flag—you’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise in the heart of downtown Williamsport.
