Group plants 250 flags for nation's 250th anniversary
State representative candidate Mark Townsend and Angela Dunham plant a flag. Photos by Nick Mossman
Flags planted on the green next to the town hall. 
The group of flag planters included JROTC students, several local officials and state Sen. Kelly Dooner.
State Sen. Kelly Dooner pokes a hole for the flag.
A sea of flags was planted on Saturday morning.
Under the direction of Judith Whiteside, flags are planted in front of the town's war memorial.
State representative candidate Mark Townsend and Angela Dunham plant a flag. Photos by Nick Mossman
Flags planted on the green next to the town hall.
The group of flag planters included JROTC students, several local officials and state Sen. Kelly Dooner.
State Sen. Kelly Dooner pokes a hole for the flag.
A sea of flags was planted on Saturday morning.
Under the direction of Judith Whiteside, flags are planted in front of the town's war memorial.
The sun shone down on the Wareham Town Hall as a group of local officials and residents planted hundreds of small American flags in front of the Wareham Bicentennial War Memorial on Saturday, June 27.
Why the flags?
Wareham is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, also known as the semiquincentennial. Local groups in Wareham and across the country are organizing to celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on Saturday, July 4. Participants placed 250 American flags in the ground on Saturday ahead of the occasion.
“We needed to have something that we could celebrate the 250th with,” Select Board member Judith Whiteside said. She added that a larger project, like using bigger flags, would be expensive.
As a solution, Whiteside said the Wareham Veterans Day Association, Veterans Council and the town collaborated to put the sea of small flags together.
And aside from the country getting a little older on its birthday, Whiteside spoke about the importance of commemorating the anniversary.
“We need to celebrate our freedoms, she said. "We need to celebrate what our republic stands for.”
