Arnold has started a project to honor current and past military members.
The city has launched the Hometown Hero banner project and is accepting applications for people to purchase a banner to honor veterans and current military members.
Custom banners featuring a military member’s name, photo and branch of service will be displayed on light poles along Michigan Avenue, which runs through the Water Tower shopping plaza off Jeffco Boulevard.
A banner may be purchased for anyone from Jefferson County.
Each banner costs $100, and applications are available on the Arnold Parks and Recreation Department’s Facebook page and at the Arnold Recreation Center, 1695 Missouri State Road. The deadline to apply for a banner is Oct. 30.
The Arnold Veterans Commission and parks and rec department are organizing the project.
“The 250th anniversary (of the founding of the U.S.) kind of sparked this,” said Larry Boyce, Arnold Veterans Commission member. “We have been talking about this for a while. Other municipalities have been doing this like Kirkwood and Webster Groves. We thought why not, let’s do it.”
Ajsa Roach, Arnold Parks and Recreation Department deputy director, said the banners will be just less than 2 feet wide and just more than 3 feet tall.
The image of the military member will be displayed on the front and back of the banner along with information about the person’s service.
“I’m very excited to see it,” Roach said. “We are always looking for ways to honor veterans and current military members. I think this is a great way to do that. I think it will be incredible to see.”
There is limited space to hang the banners. Boyce said there are 31 poles along Michigan Avenue and only one banner will be displayed on a pole.
The city will place banners on a first-come, first-serve basis. The banners are expected to be placed in mid-January 2027, and the banners are expected to remain up through late October or early November.
Roach said the city is limiting the banners to be displayed along Michigan Avenue because the light poles along the road are the only ones that Arnold owns.
“We would love to put them throughout the city, but we don’t own the other poles, so we can’t,” she said.
Boyce said the banner project is available to anyone from Jefferson County in part to allow for more military members to be recognized and because organizers are not sure how much participation there will be in the first year.
“This first year is more or less a test,” he said. “We may get hundreds (of applications). We may get 40. We don’t know.
“I think we will do OK this year with 30 some (poles), but maybe in the next year or two after people see what it is, it may expand and more people will want to put their relatives up. If we have a lot of applicants, we may have to back it up to just Arnold. Right now, we will see what we get this first year and go from there.”
When the banner is taken down, those who purchased it will have the option to keep the banner for themselves or request the city display it again the following year. Boyce said the fee will need to be paid for a banner to be displayed again and will be put back up if there is room.
“I think everybody will want to take it,” Boyce said of the banners.
Boyce said he is looking forward to the banners going up in the city.
“We have studied Webster Groves, Kirkwood and a few other places,” he said.
“They are well received there, and we are looking forward to getting them up here. We want to recognize veterans, past and present, for their service.”