From the battlefield to banners: Town of Oyster Bay’s Hometown Heroes program honors local military personnel and veterans

A Hometown Heroes promotional banner located in Bethpage, N.Y. 

OYSTER BAY, N.Y. - The Town of Oyster Bay launched its annual Hometown Heroes program, allowing residents to honor veterans and active-duty service members through banners displayed in town parks. 

The program takes place across six parks spanning both the North and South shores; John J. Burns Park in Massapequa, Ellsworth W. Allen Park in Farmingdale, Syosset-Woodbury Community Park in Syosset, Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Park in Plainview, Abe Levitt Baseball Complex in Hicksville and Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park and Beach in Oyster Bay. 

Residents interested in getting a banner are asked to fill out an application including the veteran’s name, hometown, branch of service and rank, years of service and an 8x10” photo.

The banners, which are displayed from Memorial Day through Veterans Day, allow residents to see the brave men and women who helped protect their freedom. At the program’s conclusion, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts deliver the banners back to the veterans and their families. “It’s a great opportunity for the {Boy and Girl} Scouts to interact with the veterans and thank them personally for their service,” said Town of Oyster Bay’s Director of Operations Andy Rothstein. 

The program, started five years ago to publicly recognize and thank veterans, has quickly become very popular with Town residents. Rothstein said he was initially concerned that the Town would eventually run out of veterans to honor. But, it has proven to be the exact opposite. The number of applications has steadily increased every year, with more that 250 banners on display in 2024. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Town has approxinmately 7,500 veterans.

To keep up with the increasing number of applications, Rothstein and his Special Events team have come up with multiple ways to control the demand including and option to use a previous year’s information for returning applicants and changing the design of the banner every year. This provides something fresh for returning applicants and first time applicants alike. It also allows families to give out different banners to each member depending upon the year they were displayed. 

Oyster Bay is not the first municipality on Long Island to have adopted this concept, but their program differs in terms of placement options and pricing. Compared to other townships who charge upwards of $200 for a banner, Oyster Bay charges a more reasonable $75 per banner. 

The Town also has their own public facilities to display the banners. By placing these banners in Town parks, Rothstein and his team can control positioning and ensure that they’re not damaged. 

The program is a success for the Town, its veterans and its residents. “The biggest point is how important this is for veterans and their families, especially Vietnam veterans, who didn't come home to the welcome that they should have gotten or certainly deserved,” said Rothstein. “I think that it's very special to them… and that we can be a part of that, is phenomenal.”

Although the 2025 cutoff date of March 14th has passed, Rothstein said the Town will still accept late applications, as they feel it’s the least they can do for military personnel. 

With each banner displayed, residents are reminded that the service of veterans isn’t just a part of history, but an integral part of the fabric and freedom of the community they call home.

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