September 22nd is known as Saskatchewan Flag Day

Editor:

It celebrates the Inaugural Raising of our Provincial Flag, on September 22, 1969.

As you may know, the Designer of our Saskatchewan Flag is Anthony Drake. He was a British teacher that came to Canada for a few years to teach high school. He taught in Hodgeville, Saskatchewan and during 1969, he entered a contest to design a new Provincial Flag.

There were 4025 entries and Anthony Drake’s design was chosen. He was notified of his winning, but he and his wife Joan had moved back to Howden, East Yorkshire, England, to raise their new daughter, who was born in the Hodgeville Hospital.

Because of this, he never saw the Raising of His Flag. 47 years later, my husband, Mirek, and I moved from Calgary and purchased that same school and turned it into the Hodgeville Skool Inn. We soon discovered this historical story. It took me 1.5 years to locate Anthony Drake, who was living in England.

We spoke on the phone and soon after, during 2016, he came to visit us. We surprised Anthony and set up a 3-week tour. We visited many cities and towns and met with Mayors, MLA’s and even Premier Brad Wall. We had “Tea” with the Lieutenant Governor, Vaughn Salomon Schofield. SaskTel TVmax made a Documentary of our Flag Tour called “Coming Home”.

Three years later, 2019, Anthony returned to visit us, and we went on another tour and had another Documentary made. The big event of that tour was going to the new Mosaic Stadium in Regina and meeting up with the new Premier, Scott Moe. We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of our Provincial Flag.

I had sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth asking her to acknowledge Anthony Drake. 4 months later, I received a letter from Buckingham Palace and She thanked us for recognizing Anthony Drake and the contribution he made for our Province.

Sadly, June 1, 2022, Anthony Drake passed away, so to keep his Legacy on-going, I always keep him in mind at this time of year and remember the wonderful and important contribution that Anthony Drake made for our Province.

So, help celebrate the Designer of our Saskatchewan Flag, Anthony Drake, on September 22nd, Saskatchewan Flag Day.

Gail Hapanowicz, Hodgeville