Benson Anspach and his 7-year-old son Alexander planted miniature American flags at roughly 80 homes on the evening of Thursday, July 2. They were part of a six-person volunteer crew that placed one flag at every mailbox in McLean Hamlet, totaling 507 flags across the neighborhood off Lewinsville Road.
The effort, organized by the McLean Hamlet Community Association, marked the Fourth of July holiday and the United States' 250th birthday.
"It's a huge coordination," Anspach, the association's secretary, told InsideNoVa. "This is above and beyond what we normally do."
Volunteers worked through sweltering evening heat, placing small flags in grassy patches at the ends of driveways while others hung patriotic ribbons and larger flags at the neighborhood's brick entrance gates. By nightfall, every home in the 507-house community displayed a flag that residents could keep as a commemorative gift.
The display drew a direct line to McLean Hamlet's beloved Christmas Eve luminary tradition, swapping glowing lanterns for flags stretching street to street. That luminary event dates to the mid-1960s, when a neighborhood couple returned from Mexico inspired by a candlelit display and decorated their yard with paper bags and candles. The tradition now involves roughly 10,000 candles lit each December 24.
Anspach said his family moved to McLean Hamlet about six years ago. The neighborhood community was the draw.
Upcoming McLean Hamlet community events:
- Fall Picnic — September 2026
- House Decoration Contest & Halloween Parade — October 2026
- Turkey Trot/Food Drive — November 2026
- Festival of Lights (Luminaria) — Wednesday, December 24, 2026
