BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge residents gathered downtown Sunday to celebrate the beginning of National Flag Week. 

Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, has been hosting the event for the past 17 years to pay homage to the men and women who have served or are currently serving. This year's event in downtown Baton Rouge was it's biggest yet, after the addition of a festival to the celebration.

"I've been doing it for 17 years and it's still a very, very important in terms of educating the community on the importance of the flag and what it truly represents and how we should never take our freedom for granted," Barrow said.

Barrow wanted to teach the community's youth about how to properly fold the flag, how to dispose of it and to respect it. Festival organizers made educational activities for the kids to partake in to learn about the flag's history.

Along with the instruction, there is bounce houses, live music and a parade. Many veterans took part in the parade, proud to once again pay homage to the flag.

"I have a flag at my house that flies 24-7. It's lit at night. I'm proud to have served in the military and I'm proud for what the flag represents," Roland Sanchez, a Louisiana Patriot Guard Rider, said.

Veterans at Flag Day say that late May to mid-June is one of the most patriotic times of the year with Memorial Day, the anniversary of D-Day and Flag Week all occurring during that time.

"Flag day is one of The American Legion's programs. It's one of the things that we strive for, and we want everybody to know how to properly present a flag, what a flag meant to us as soldiers," Byron Comeaux of The American Legion said.

Flag Week runs from June 9 until June 15, with June 14 being recognized as National Flag Day.