Riverhead Elks Lodge honors student essay winners at Flag Day ceremony

Luke Milano of Aquebogue was among the Riverhead elementary students whose essays on the U.S. flag earned recognition at Riverhead Elks Lodge No. 2044, where the annual Flag Day ceremony put children’s writing at the center of the observance. The lodge at 1239 E. Main St. honored winners from Riverhead schools on Sunday afternoon, tying a local tradition to a broader lesson in citizenship.

Students in first through fifth grades were asked to write about the flag, and the lodge singled out a slate of winners that included Daniel Penafiel and Emelyn Carreta Perez of Riley Avenue, along with Ariana Fiore, Leah Eastwood, Ella Tochman, Luca Faia and Elsie Corwin among the older elementary winners. The contest also carried cash prizes, giving the essay assignment a tangible reward as well as a civic purpose.

The ceremony itself is built around more than the awards. Riverhead Elks traditionally include a short history of the flag and display earlier flags used before the current banner was adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. That made the afternoon more than a presentation of names and prizes. It became a hands-on history lesson in how the nation’s symbols took shape and why they still matter in a community setting.

The local observance also sits inside a long Elks tradition. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks says its Grand Lodge designated June 14 as Flag Day in 1907 and required local lodges to observe it beginning in 1911. The organization describes itself as the first fraternal group to formally observe Flag Day, and its national guidance connects the holiday to the flag’s adoption in 1777.

That history gives added weight to the Riverhead contest, which has become a familiar part of the school calendar for District students in grades 1 through 5. It also echoes a deeper essay-writing tradition that dates to June 14, 1885, when Bernard J. Cigrand asked students to write about the American flag. In Riverhead, that older idea still lives on in a lodge hall, where children’s words are used to connect families, schools and civic identity.