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The plan is to honor as many as 50 United States military men and women with ties to Nederland along the Mid-County city’s most iconic street.

And Nederland is already off to a good start after launching the effort Wednesday. The city is working to recognize local veterans and active duty military by displaying a 24” x 36” picture banner on Boston Avenue between May and August.

The city has long displayed banners — football- and holiday-themed during the fall and winter — and is now finding another positive way to expand the effort.

City Manager Chris Duque and Parks and Recreation Supervisor Angela Fanette have been discussing the idea since the COVID pandemic began locking up the community’s traditional quality-of-life attractions.

They decided to move forward with the program by patterning off other communities with similar projects.

Officials hope to hang banners by May and promote another round in coming efforts.

Fanette said there were three completed applications when she came into work Thursday morning.

The city has 25 banner spots that can be utilized on Boston Avenue light poles with brackets, and Nederland’s vendor can print separate images on the front and back.

“Instead of just having 25 people recognized at one time, we can actually double that to 50,” Duque said. “That is what we are going to work towards — one image will be on one side, and another image will be on the other side. We can maximize the number of people we recognize.”

The city is not charging residents to participate.

To qualify for the Military and Veteran Banner Program, the honoree must be an active duty member of, have been honorably discharged from or died in the line of duty in the United States Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, as well as the Reserves and National Guard).

The honoree must have been born or lived in Nederland.

“We support the chamber of commerce in their fundraising activities in the fall and winter with the Bulldogs banners they put up for football season and Christmas banners they put for the holidays,” Duque said. “This is us just trying to do something different so we’re working on that.”

Photo submission guidelines

A photo of the current service member or veteran must be portrait style, and the honoree in the photo must be in uniform.

Digital photos in a JPG or PNG format are needed with a minimum resolution of 600 dots per inch.

If producing the digital file from a printed photograph, use a photo that is at least 5” X 7” and minimum resolution of 600 dpi.

Send a digital photo by email to banners@ci.nederland.tx.us. If you do not have a digital photo, bring a printed portrait style photo, preferably at least 5” X 7” to the Nederland Recreation Center (2301 Avenue H). Printed photos will be returned. Participation in the program is limited and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

The deadline to register with a completed form is March 26.

To pick up an application, call 409-723-1503 or 409-724-0773.

Stephen Hemelt is president of Port Arthur Newsmedia. He can be reached at 409-721-2445 or stephen.hemelt@panews.com.