There's still time to order banners honoring Leechburg, Gilpin veterans

Orders are still being accepted for Leechburg’s “Hometown Hero” banner program.

Mayor Wayne Dobos, a member of the three-member committee working on the program, said 133 banners honoring veterans and active military service members had been created and were ready to be hung as of Wednesday.

“I think for a small community we’ve done very well,” said Dobos, a Vietnam veteran.

Of people’s participation in the program, the mayor said: “I think it’s a great thing. People sacrificed. Some their lives, others a portion of their lifetime serving the country.”

The banners will be hung on utility poles along the borough’s Market and Main streets. They’re available to people living in Leechburg and Gilpin.

Gilpin Supervisors Chairman Charlie Stull said he appreciates that Leechburg extended the offer to Gilpin.

“We do not have many locations within the township in which they could be hung, so it is nice to know our residents will not be excused from this awesome idea just because of that,” Stull said.

Gray Sign Advertising in Tarentum is making the banners. They cost about $140.

Voytex Electrical, located on Market Street, is hanging them for free. The goal is to get them up by Veterans Day in November.

The banners are 30-by-60 inches and made of heavy vinyl. They contain a 22-by-27-inch picture of the veteran.

Under the picture is the veteran’s branch of service and their name. There is a space below the veteran’s name for medals or accolades the veteran received, such as a Purple Heart, or where the veteran served.

If people choose to put medals on the banners, they have to prove the veteran received them.

Order forms for the banners are available at Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market in Leechburg, the Leechburg Borough Building and on Gray Sign’s website. People who order banners are responsible for taking, mailing or emailing their own order forms to Gray’s.

Dobos said he has gone to Gray’s to pick up completed banners for people who have purchased them, but will no longer do so after Sept. 15. After that date, people will be responsible for picking up their banners and bringing them to Voytex Electrical on their own, he said.

“It takes two weeks’ turnaround from the time (Gray Sign) gets the orders until they get the banners back, which would put (us) at the end of September, the beginning of October,” Dobos said. “That gives us a month to get them up.”