ROTARY FLAG

Rotarians should keep the Rotary Flag flying high by celebrating the year with 3D effect - Dedication, Devotion and Determination. In this episode we will be sharing information on Rotary Flag which is hardly being shared! Most of the Rotarians know about emblem but very few even know existence of Rotary Flag.

As per instruction of the 1914 Houston convention, National Association President Frank Malholland of Toledo, Ohio appointed a committee to design a flag for all Rotary Clubs. Committee Chairman was Russell F. Greiner of Kansas City, Missouri, 3rd president.

Flag's background or main portion is White. In the centre of the flag appears the official emblem of the organization worked out in gold and blue and containing the world "Rotary International".

White color stands for internationalism and is looked upon as
the lily white banner of international amity and goodwill.
Blue colour stands for consistency of purpose, and the gold
stands for the pure standard (gold standard) upon which rotates
the wheel of eternal progress.

The honor of flying the Rotary flag for the first time was accorded to Russell Granier and he did so before a large crowd of Rotary and civic dignitaries when he raised it on the flag staff of the Baltimore hotel in Kansas City at 11 a.m. on 4th January 1915.

Rotarian Admiral Richard Byrd flew the Rotary flag over the South Pole in 1929 and the North Pole four years later.

In 1932, Professor Auguste Piccard carried a Rotary flag given to him by the Rotary Club of Zurich on his record-setting balloon ascent to 55,577 feet.

In 1933, the flag headed in the opposite direction when Rotary Club of Houghton, Michigan, carried it 6254 feet beneath the earth's surface for a meeting at the bottom of the Quincy Copper Mine.

The first Rotary club banner flew in the outer space when astronaut Frank Borman, a Rotarian from Space Center, Houston, Texas, took it on his orbit around the Moon.
One of the colorful traditions of many Rotary Clubs is to exchange of small banners, flags, or pennants. Rotarians traveling to distant locations take banners to exchange at make-up meetings as a token of friendship. The exchange is a meaningful gesture that serves as a tangible symbol of international fellowship. Does your club have a flag or banner?