By Khalida Sarwari
Take a stroll down Big Basin Way over the next few weeks and you won’t be able to escape seeing a flag flying here and a slight breeze rippling through a patriotic bunting there. There are signs all over the Village that the nation’s 239th birthday is on the horizon.
The Echo Shop and Skin Prophecy are displaying bunting that evokes New England Americana, while USA Nails boasts a garden stake in the form of a metal flag. Peer into the window of Saratoga Cleaners and you’ll notice a flag propped on a pole, while a limited edition U.S. flag hangs at Michael Anthony Salon. Inside Bai Tong, it will be curries and pad thai as usual, but outside a rectangular banner is splayed across the storefront bearing the nation’s color scheme. It doesn’t get any more American than that.
The ladies behind the splash of red, white and blue in Saratoga’s downtown are Patricia Himel and Laurel Perusa. Driven by their love for their country and community, the two Saratogans roll up their sleeves weeks leading up to the Fourth of July every year to sprinkle a bit of red, white and blue on the stretch of street that’s lined with Saratoga’s premier restaurants, salons and boutique shops.
The idea, said Perusa, is to commemorate their home.
“We live in an incredible country and I think it’s important to honor our country every day of the year, but Fourth of July puts a big exclamation point on our honoring, so to speak,” said Perusa.
“It’s a great time to really be patriotic and think about our country and how fortunate we are to live here.”
The ladies encourage merchants along Big Basin Way to participate by decking out their storefronts with patriotic decorations, in the form of a flag or whatever else they fancy–extra points for creativity. The Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, for example, is displaying a life-sized cardboard cutout of Samuel Adams, courtesy of resident Jack Mallory, who requested the prop from a beer distribution company. The difference between this Sam Adams and the mug-toting one is he’s holding an ad promoting the city’s official Independence Day event.
Acknowledging that not all merchants may have the time to dedicate to such a task, Perusa said she and Himel would offer to step in and do the decorating for them.
Himel came up with the idea to decorate downtown Saratoga for the Fourth of July six years ago and had a willing partner in crime in Perusa. The following year, the ladies joined forces to organize the decoration activity, reaching somewhere around 30 businesses. It has since become a perennial event sponsored by the Saratoga Village Development Council; last year about 75 businesses participated.
Just about every business along Big Basin Way is participating this year, and they’ll have their decorations up until July 13. Perusa encouraged families to stroll through the Village with their children and even make a game out of the experience by getting them to count the number of flags or stars they see.
The city’s Fourth of July event takes place at Kevin Moran Park on July 4 from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
