Memorial Day is Monday and local group "Flags for Fort Snelling" has revived the tradition of placing an American flag at every gravestone in the Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
The practice was abandoned for nearly 30 years due to a lack of federal funding.
But Flags for For Snelling founder Joanne Malmstedt credits dedicated volunteers for growing the effort from a few thousand flags to its current scale over the past decade.
"So many people are coming on board and wanting to make sure it happens and seeing a lot of those younger families come in and starting to establish those traditions. It's just amazing," says Malmstedt.
The organization hopes to continue this tribute for many years to come, through the help of community donations.
It alsot takes an army of volunteers. Each year, they have gathered at Fort Snelling Cemetery to adorn headstones with nearly 200,000 Flags for Memorial Day.
The heartfelt tradition was brought back just 10 year ago with a modest 3,000 flags in 2015. That's when things expanded, culminating in enough flags for every gravestone this year.
"The honor and the respect that that comes with all of this for everybody that is out there and helping is just so wonderful to see," explains Malmstedt.
She says next, her plan is to continue the tradition affordably by using sustainable, reusable flags.
To help fund the cause you can make a donation at flagsforfortsnelling.com. You can also volunteer to help place the flags here.