Editorial of June 11, 2026

Cooperstown Missed the Boat…and the Bandwagon

Our general manager/senior editor’s recently departed mother was fond of asking, “If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you follow?” Useful as a means of encouraging independent thinking, but when it comes to the Hometown Heroes banners peppered across the region, we wish the Village of Cooperstown would have taken the leap.

The Hometown Heroes Banner Program is described as a “local, community-driven tribute that honors military veterans, active-duty service members, and first responders by displaying custom light-pole banners in public spaces. Sponsored by families or local businesses, they usually feature the honoree’s photo, name, branch of service, and rank.”

Following numerous meetings and a public hearing, the Cooperstown Board of Trustees voted 6-1 on the evening of Monday, October 28 against a proposed amendment to the village’s existing sign law, which prohibited the hanging of such banners on public property. Had the amendment been approved, the law would have been changed to allow banners to be placed on New York State Electric and Gas utility poles on portions of four streets in the Village of Cooperstown—Lake Street, Pine Boulevard, Chestnut Street and Glen Avenue.

The impetus for the proposed change—Local Law 11 of 2024, Sign Law Amendment—was a request from Toddsville resident and Cooperstown Central School graduate Joanie Parrillo to hang Hometown Heroes banners, honoring local veterans, in the village. The banners can be seen in communities throughout Otsego County and New York State, and have become a popular way of honoring the service of individual veterans.