Three Oaks, Mich., June 7 first-day location for U.S. Flag forever stamps

By Jay Bigalke

On June 7, during an early Flag Day parade celebration weekend, the United States Postal Service will issue a new Flag definitive (regular-issue) stamp in Three Oaks, Mich., with a first-day ceremony to be planned by local postal officials.

The ceremony is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Eastern time in the parking lot of the Vickers Theatre at 6 N. Elm St. in Three Oaks.

Ceremony participants will include USPS Michigan 2 district manager Donald Dombrow Jr., flag stamp photographer Doug Haight, Flag Day Committee chairwoman Heather Whitlow, and more.

Linn’s Stamp News is producing the ceremony program for the event.

As to why Three Oaks was chosen for the first-day location, the Three Oaks Flag Day parade, held annually, stands as a testament to American patriotism and community spirit. Established in 1953 by Herb Flick and sponsored by the Three Oaks American Legion Post 204, the inaugural parade featured approximately 20 units, including post colors, drill teams, and mounted units. The initial event commenced and concluded at the American Legion, culminating in a flag-raising ceremony and refreshments provided by the Legion Auxiliary.

Over the decades, the parade has experienced significant growth. By the 1970s, it expanded to 80 units and was recognized as the nation’s largest Flag Day parade.

The 1980s saw the event evolve from a single-day affair to a three-day celebration, incorporating various community activities. Today, the parade boasts more than 100 units, including veterans, color guards, musical marching bands, clowns, equestrian groups, drill teams, antique cars and trucks, drum and bugle corps, and antique tractors, all proudly displaying and honoring Old Glory.

The celebration has become a cornerstone event for the village, drawing thousands of spectators and participants each year. In addition to the parade, the festivities include a 5K run, pet parade, Quilts of Valor presentation, fireworks, and a Flag Day market, among other events.

This year the parade celebrates its 73rd year and the U.S. Postal Service is planning on participating in the parade, held on Sunday, a day after the first day of issue for the new U.S. Flag stamp.

The design of the nondenominated (73¢) Flag stamp was first revealed in December 2024.

The Flag stamps will be issued in six varieties, according to technical details published in the May 1 issue of the Postal Bulletin.

For this year’s issue, the two printers produced a total of approximately 3.4 billion stamps across all six formats. Print quantities range from a low of 12.5 million stamps produced in coil rolls of 10,000 to a high of 900 million stamps for the two versions of the coil stamps in rolls of 100.

All the new stamps were printed using offset lithography and contain microprinting somewhere in the design.

The stamps will be offered in a pane of 20, two different double-sided panes of 20 (a format that the Postal Service describes as a booklet), two different coil rolls of 100 stamps, and in coil rolls of 3,000 and 10,000.

The Postal Service’s current contract printers, Ashton Potter and Banknote Corporation of America, each printed one of the double-sided panes and one coil of 100 variety.

The stamps on the intact double-sided panes of 20 can be distinguished by the multicolor plate number printed on a narrow selvage strip separating the two blocks of four on the eight-stamp side of the pane.

Stamps printed by Ashton Potter will show a plate number beginning with the letter P followed by four digits. The plate number on the stamps from Banknote Corporation will begin with the letter B followed by five digits.

The difference in the number of inks used by the two printers is interesting with Banknote Corporation of America using a dedicated red ink in addition to magenta in producing the stamp.

Rolls of coil stamps are usually wrapped with a leader strip that might identify the printer as either APU or BCA. Plate numbers on the coil stamps from the two printers will show the same letter-number combinations as the double-sided panes.

According to the Postal Service, plate numbers on the new Flag coil of 100 stamps will appear on every 31st stamp. The interval for the larger coil rolls of 3,000 and 10,000 is every 27th stamp.

It is likely that six Scott catalog numbers will be assigned for the Flag stamps: one for the pane of 20 stamp, one each for the stamps in the two double-sided panes of 20, one each for the coil stamps in the two rolls of 100, and one for the coil stamps in rolls of 3,000 and 10,000.

A final listing determination will be made after the Scott editors have examined the actual stamps.

Postal Service art director Antonio Alcala designed the Flag stamp using a flag photograph by Doug Haight.

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