06/03/2026
Have a story about the American Bicentennial in 1976? Then stop by the Tap Room this evening (Wednesday, June 3) to share it!
Even if you don’t have a story, stop in to talk local history over a drink with friends, history professionals, and amateur historians.
Porter County Museum Executive Director Kevin Matthew Pazour will give a short talk at 6pm about how Porter County celebrated the American Bicentennial fifty years ago.
Image: Using fifteen skeins of yarn and 92,000 stitches, Valparaiso’s Frances DeArmitt created a crocheted American flag as her bicentennial project. DeArmitt gave the flag to her husband, Paul, who was proud of his wife’s needlework, but was unsure what to do with it. DeArmitt, who had been doing handwork since she was twelve years old, finished the flag in about three months. Because she did not have any pattern, her crocheted flag was scaled in proportion to a flag sized three feet by five feet. This photograph appeared on page 3 of "The Vidette-Messenger" on June 2, 1976.
