Scout installs new flag retirement box at Town Hall
Tyler Ferreira, 13, next to the new flag retirement box outside Town Hall. Photos courtesy: Tracie Ferreira
Ferreira installing the box with friends from Scout Troop 74 just in time for Veterans Day.
Over the summer, Ferreira collected cans to fund the project.
Just one week in, the box is already full of flags.
Tyler Ferreira, 13, next to the new flag retirement box outside Town Hall. Photos courtesy: Tracie Ferreira
Ferreira installing the box with friends from Scout Troop 74 just in time for Veterans Day.
Over the summer, Ferreira collected cans to fund the project.
Just one week in, the box is already full of flags.
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United States
Visitors to Town Hall may notice a new feature out front: a red, white and blue box for properly retiring American flags.
The box — with a roof and information panel — is the brainchild of 13-year-old resident Tyler Ferreira, who over the past several months funded, built, and installed it as his Eagle Scout service project.
Ferreira explained that the nation’s colors can only be retired properly with fire.
“It all initially started with a post on Facebook that someone made about a flag retirement pit,” he said. “We started thinking about fire pits, and then I eventually decided on a box.”
The flags will be collected periodically and taken to a safe location to complete the ceremony.
Ferreira — currently a Life Scout with Dartmouth’s Troop 74 — said that he is working towards his Eagle Scout rank, with just one merit badge to go.
Proud mom Tracie Ferreira noted that the community helped make it all possible, with donations of cans for fundraising, free shingles from LePage and sons, and even cobblestones from 19th century Europe — along with permission to use the spot from the Select Board.
“It truly takes a village,” she stated.
Tyler also credits fellow scouts Matt and Dan Mumma, Zack Joubert, and Aiden Amaral for the troop’s success this year. All five have completed their eagle service projects, with Matt and Dan Mumma the first to make it to the highest rank.
At 13, Ferreira is the youngest to complete his project. “It’s definitely a big weight off my shoulders, because it’s done and something I don’t have to worry about anymore,” he said.
“It’s also just really good to look back on,” he added. “I planned this and I led this project, and I got it done.”
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