EATON — The City of Eaton on Monday, April 1, introduced its Military Tribute Banner Program and opened the banner ordering period for families/sponsors.
“The City of Eaton’s Military Tribute Banner Program aims to honor our residents’ beloved veterans, active-duty, reserve, and National Guard members with street banners displayed along Barron Street. This is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the brave men and women of our great United States military,” Community Development Specialist Leslie Collins said in a press release.
For eligibility to be sponsored with a tribute banner, service members will need to meet the following criteria:
• Be veterans or active-duty military, National Guard, Reserves, honorably discharged, or have died in the line of military duty.
• Call Eaton their hometown.
• Reside or have resided in the City of Eaton during their military service.
• Be the immediate family member of a current Eaton resident (spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, child-in-law.)
Banners will be 24”x48” and will include the honoree’s photo and basic military information. Banners will be displayed from Memorial Day through Veterans Day. The first set of banners will be displayed for 2024 and 2025, with the exact dates of installation and removal subject to change without notice, according to Collins.
Banners will be displayed on poles along Barron Street, outside historic downtown Eaton. There are fewer than 50 banner spots available for each display period.
“A military honors street banner program has been something various residents have asked about for years,” Collins said. “We have now received the necessary pole attachment approvals from AES and Miami Valley Lighting and are happy to finally be able to introduce it here in the city.”
Banners will be given back to the family/sponsor after the second display period, at which time new banner orders will be taken for the next display cycle, to begin with Memorial Day 2026.
Sponsorship of banners is $200 per banner. Banners must be ordered online at https://militarytributebanners.org/ohio/eaton-oh.html.
“When ordering, you should have all your honoree’s information and a high-resolution photo ready for uploading,” Collins said. “The Military Tribute Banners site will walk you through the process and provide information regarding photo requirements, etc.”
Ordering deadline for this first display period will be Tuesday, April 30.
After placing an order online, payment (by check or money order) must be made to the City of Eaton, with “Military Tribute Banner Program” in the memo line. Mail payments to City of Eaton, P.O. Box 27, Eaton, OH 45320 or drop off at the City Building, 328 N. Maple St., Eaton. Military Tribute Banners will not produce an ordered banner until payment is received.
Created in 2016 in Florida, Military Tribute Banners is a company made up of individuals with combined military backgrounds with over 30 years of experience in marketing and printing who are dedicated to helping communities and organizations honor their local military men and women, while helping them raise needed funds for their cause. They created the Military Tribute Banner Program to do just that – honor and support the world’s greatest defender of freedom – the United States Military, and it’s all the company does. MTB programs are currently located in 28 states, including several communities here in Ohio.
For additional information, including a link to the City of Eaton’s MTB ordering site, visit https://www.cityofeaton.org/community/page/military-tribute-banner-program.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
