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Collier will mark Flag Day for the first time in four years with a small event tonight -- officially returning the holiday to the township that claims it as its own.

Political upheaval has been blamed for the lapse. Three commissioners have resigned from the five-member board since the last celebration in 2000, and the township has had two managers since 2001 with long vacancies in between.

Tonight's event, starting at 7 at the township building on Hilltop Road, will feature music, food, arts and crafts and a fireworks display at dusk. The total cost is $10,000, but local businesses chipped in $4,600.

"I don't think the residents should suffer because of Collier's political unrest," Commissioner Jackie Burkhart said. "The feedback we got all says that the residents love Flag Day."

Collier always embraced Flag Day because the late William Kerr, a long-time resident, was one of its chief proponents.

Congress passed a bill declaring Flag Day a national holiday in 1949, and President Truman signed it into law with Kerr at his side. Flag Day, officially June 14, marks the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 calling for a banner for a new nation.

Kerr lived in the Rennerdale neighborhood of Collier for 23 years before moving to Philadelphia, and he died in 1953 at age 85.

Joyce Doody, executive director of the National Flag Foundation, Downtown, said Kerr is recognized nationally as a key campaigner for Flag Day.

She said interest in the holiday appears to be up, based on the phone calls and e-mails her office receives around Flag Day, asking how the flag should be displayed. Also, there is a renewed effort among American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War posts to mark the day locally.

Collier manager/secretary Roberta Schmitt said former Commissioner Doreen Ducsay spearheaded the Flag Day preparations in years past, and when she left the board no one took over.

Afterward, "A lot of board members didn't agree on anything -- including spending money on a Flag Day celebration," Burkhart said.

Tonight's event will be small compared with daylong events of years past, but Burkhart said she hopes to expand the event in coming years.

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