These days, displaying the flag every day is very common. It demonstrates support for our nation and our troops. For those choosing specific days to display the flag, special days have been identified for displaying the flag. Unless lit, the flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset, weather permitting, on the following special days:
New Year's Day - January 1
Martin Luther King Day - Third Monday in January
Inauguration Day - January 20
Lincoln's Birthday - February 12
Washington's Birthday - Third Monday in February
Easter Sunday (variable)
Mother's Day - Second Sunday in May
Peace Officers Memorial Day (half-staff) - May 15
Armed Forces Day - Third Saturday in May
Memorial Day (half-staff until noon) - Last Monday in May
Flag Day - June 14
Father's Day - Third Sunday in June)
Independence Day - July 4
Korean War Veterans Day (half-staff) - July 27
Labor Day -- First Monday in September
Patriot Day - (half-staff) September 11
Constitution Day - September 17
Gold Star Mothers Day - Last Sunday in September
Columbus Day - Second Monday in October
Navy Day - October 27
Election Day - First Tuesday in November
Veterans Day - November 11
Thanksgiving Day - Fourth Thursday in November
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (half-staff) - December 7
Christmas Day - December 25
State Birthdays Holidays
(and other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States.)
Flag code:
Section 6a: "It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness."
The Flag Code offers no additional guidance on this question. We interpret this to mean that there should be either a light directly upon the flag or that there be sufficient local lighting to make the flag easily visible at night.
If you cannot "properly illuminate" your flag, we recommend that you retire it at sunset, as the Flag Rules specify.
And I am glad you can properly display the flag. I hope you have retired a few flags. I still get choked up each time I retire a flag and think about what it stands for and the people that have paid the price because freedom is not free.