Old Glory should be flying at Grocery Outlet on Tuesday

If all goes according to plan those driving down Olive Avenue should see Old Glory flying again from the flag pole at the Grocery Outlet Center.

In the end Porterville Flag Day Committee member Cyndi Levario didn’t have to look too far to find someone to place a large American flag on the flag pole. His son, Alvino Levario, will be repairing the flag pole and if all goes well will place an American flag he bought on the flag pole sometime Tuesday afternoon.

“He’s the one that wanted to do it,” said his Cyndi Levario. “He kept asking when are they going to put the flag up, when are they going to put the flag up?”

Alvino Levario has served in the U.S. Army Reserves. “To him it was very important,” said Cyndi Levario about having an American flag displayed at Grocery Outlet. “I was surprised he asked me.”

Levario is donating his labor for the project. A lift has been rented for the project and will be available on Tuesday.

The community has gone without an American flag that normally flies from the Grocery Outlet flag pole for nearly a year since last year’s Flag Day Ceremony. During the ceremony there was a problem with bringing down the old flag and the new flag was never placed. The old flag was eventually removed from the flag pole.

It was originally thought a frozen pulley on the pole caused the old flag to be stalled as it was coming down during last year’s ceremony. But Cyndi Levario said while the pulley needs to be replaced, the problem was actually the gears at the top of the pole.

So new gears are are also needed. The cost is $2,300 and there are various options being discussed throughout the community on how to fund that cost. The Elks Lodge, American Legion Post 20 and the Breakfast Rotary Club of Porterville and the Rotary Club of Porterville are all among those who could help fund the cost if not fund it entirely.

Cyndi Levario said his son thought he would just be able to obtain different sized parts and figure out which ones could be used while repairing the flag pole.

“But then it didn’t come out that way,” said Levario. She said his son had to first go up the pole to measure for the right size parts before obtaining them.

The flag Levario will place on the pole on Tuesday will fly until the annual Flag Day ceremony on Flag Day, June 14.

The flag that was supposed to be placed on

the pole last year will replace Levario’s flag at the ceremony, Cyndi Levario said. Alvino Levario will keep his flag.

The Flag Day ceremony is a communitywide event presented by the Porterville Flag Day Committee in which numerous community and youth organizations participate. Cyndi Levario said the Flag Day ceremony for the most part will have all of the traditional activities it has had in the past. “There may be a couple of changes,” she said.

Among the tweaks will be how the retirement ceremony is held since there will be no huge American flag that will need to be retired. But those in the community who need to dispose of their American Flag will still be able to do so.

Those who need to dispose of the American Flag will soon be

able to drop off their flags. Sites scheduled to be drop-off places are the Elks Lodge, Porterville Chamber of Commerce, Porterville Recorder, Save Mart, Grocery Outlet, Porterville Veterans Memorial Building and Bank of the Sierra.

Those interested in donating to the cost of the flag pole repair can call American Legion Post Commander Mike Smith, 310-8703.