Star-Spangled Banner ceremony rescheduled for March 6

A winter storm in Washington, D.C., caused the March 3 first-day ceremony for the Star-Spangled Banner forever stamp to be postponed.

Nearly 6 inches of snow fell in the District of Columbia that day, closing many of the Smithsonian museums and U.S. Postal Service headquarters.

The stamps were still issued March 3 nationwide.

A new event referred to as a “special ceremony” took place March 6 at 10:30 a.m. in the Kenneth E. Behring Center of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, at 14th Street and Constitution Ave., N.W., in Washington.

The museum displays the original 200-year-old Fort McHenry flag that flew during the War of 1812 as the fort was bombarded by the British Navy in 1814. The sight of the large flag inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem.

This is the second wave of stamps this year with the Star-Spangled Banner design.

The new varieties are two double-sided panes of 20 produced by Sennett Security Products and CCL Label Inc.; plus a coil of 100 and an ATM pane of 18, both by Sennett.