Take the beehive flag around the world

(City Councillor David LeSueur, left, jokes with Mayor David Henderson as he hands over what he hopes to be a well-travelled city flag.)

Are you heading somewhere exotic or off to some significant event? Are you from Brockville?

Why not stop by city hall first and pick up the flag?

Councillor David LeSueur on Tuesday started what he hoped will become a new Brockville tradition when he handed Mayor David Henderson a Brockville flag, which he autographed while at Everest Base Camp during his recent return trip to Nepal.

(LeSueur, you may recall, was one of the locals caught up in the devastating April 2015 Nepal earthquake the last time he attempted an Everest trek.)

His idea is for the flag to remain at city hall, where it can be borrowed by anyone heading off to far-flung parts of the Earth, so that it can gather signatures and pictures in as many parts of the world as locals end up travelling.

Anyone heading off to some significant event, for instance the Special Olympics, can also qualify for a flag selfie, LeSueur suggested.

It’s an interesting idea, if only to demonstrate how Brockvillians, who like any small-town residents may develop a reputation for insularity, can have a global reach.

Of course, the tradition of flag-signing is a way to mark significant moments in history, like the time the Brockville Rifles brought back a city flag that travelled across Afghanistan’s war-torn Kandahar Province.

The beehive-themed flag, symbolizing industry, was signed by all the Rifles who served with Canadian forces there.

“There is still Kandahar dust on this flag,” Mayor David Henderson quipped after receiving it during the 2009 Canada Day ceremony on Court House Green.

But there’s something to be said for a simple record of more ordinary travels of a less heroic nature, although one should assume a trip to Alex Bay for a round of golf doesn’t count.

Besides, this could provide just a little more incentive for Brockville to produce its first astronaut.