"I'm on a pole!"

This was the announcement made by Jim Kimmerly, my 94-year-old clogging teammate, when he arrived at dance class shortly after Memorial Day. The real kicker: He wasn't kidding!

Jim explained that his hometown of Manchester, OH put up banners honoring their veterans. This program is sponsored locally by the Manchester American Legion Post 325, and the banners will be on display between Memorial Day and Veterans Day each year.

I drove through Manchester soon after Jim's announcement and snapped a clumsy selfie to show him I checked it out. (This involved multiple attempts and standing in the street before getting a shot with both the banner and me in it. Where are the teenagers when I need them?!)

When teammate Bob and I stopped to admire Jim's sign while coming back from a show, we decided to challenge Fancy Free Cloggers (plus our family an friends) to snap their own photos with it!

Bob gets the challenge started:

My turn again!

Getting the best shots still involved standing in the street! Luckily, that side road is not heavily trafficked.

Not to be outdone, my team director and her husband were the first to answer the challenge!

Evie points out her handsome duet partner:

Ivan says, "I know this guy!"

They opted to take pics from the other side to avoid standing in the street because they're smart like that...

Clogger Carrie makes it a family affair:

When bystanders asked Veronica what she was doing, she replied, "It's a clogging thing, you wouldn't understand!"

My photo quality isn't the best, but this sure is one handsome sailor!

More members and friends of Fancy Free Cloggers are making plans to visit Jim's banner. We'll show him all the pictures - he'll love it!

Congrats to Manchester on doing a great job with the troop banner program!

Happy 4th of July!

UPDATE 07/02/2017:

Jim's daughter and great-grandson paid him a visit over the weekend. They dropped the mic on our challenge by getting banner pics with the man himself! Well played, Tony and Cheryl!