Flag Day 2026: Message from the Minister of Culture

SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY) – Message from the Minister of Culture Hon. Melissa Gumbs: Good day, St. Maarten. Today is June 13th. Flag Day. Forty-one years. Forty-one years this island has stopped, looked up, and recognized the flag that belongs to us. Not because we were told to. Not because it was convenient. But because something in us knows that this day matters. That this symbol means something. That we are a people with a story worth telling.

And today, I want us to tell that story together.

It starts, as it always should, with Roselle Richardson.

In 1983, the government invited the people of St. Maarten to design a national flag. Over one hundred designs came in. And the one that rose above them all was created by a seventeen-year-old student.

Seventeen years old.

Let that sit with you for a moment. A teenager picked up a pencil and drew something that would one day fly at the United Nations. Something that our CARIFTA athletes carry onto regional and international stages. Something that St. Maarteners in Miami, Rotterdam, New York, and right here at home hang on their walls, place on their cars, and wear on their bodies with pride.

Roselle Richardson did not have a title. She had vision. And that vision became ours.

That is the first thing this flag teaches us: that St. Maarten's story is written by its people — not just its leaders, not just its institutions, but its people. All of us. Including the young ones who sometimes do not yet know what they carry.

Now look at the flag itself. Really look at it.

The red is for solidarity and courage. We know what courage looks like on this island. We have seen it after hurricanes, after hardship, after the kind of loss that would break a lesser people. And every time, St. Maarten has gotten back up. Every time, we have rebuilt, replanted, reconnected, and kept going. That red is not decoration. It is earned.

The white is for peace and friendliness. St. Maarten has always opened its arms. People come here from every corner of the world and find something that feels like home. That is not an accident. That is character. That is who we are at our core.

And the blue — the sky above us, the sea around us. The environment that shaped this island and that we have a responsibility to protect and preserve. That blue reminds us that we are stewards of something remarkable.

In the center, our coat of arms. The courthouse. The brown pelican, our national bird. The Yellow Sage, our national flower. All national symbols of governance, of nature, of beauty. And encapsulating it all, three words in Latin that continue to guide this island through everything:

Semper Progrediens. Always Progressing.

Not sometimes progressing. Not progressing when it is easy. Always. That is the standard we have set for ourselves.

I want to speak to our young people directly.

You are the ones this flag is really for. Not because the rest of us do not love it — we do — but because you are what comes next. You are the next chapter of the story Roselle started when she was your age.

When I see you compete at CARIFTA, when I see you represent St. Maarten in the classroom, on the stage, on the field, I see this flag in motion. You are not just carrying a symbol. You are adding to it. You are telling the world what St. Maarten produces — what it grows, what it builds, who it raises.

Never take that lightly. And never let anyone make you feel like this island is too small to matter.

Here is what I know about St. Maarten: when this island decides to show up, it shows up.

We have seen it at Carnival. We have seen it when our athletes come home. We have seen it after disasters, when neighbors became family and strangers became community. We have always had the capacity — the energy, the love, the pride — to make things visible when they matter to us.

Flag Day has always deserved that same energy.

This is a day that asks nothing complicated of us. It asks us to remember who we are. To say it out loud. To make it visible. To fly the flag on our homes and businesses and boats and cars. To tell our children where it came from and what it means. To celebrate — not because government organized a ceremony, but because St. Maarten is worth celebrating every single day, and especially today.

Across this island right now, people are doing exactly that. Community groups are gathering. Schools are marking the day. Families are putting up flags. That is St. Maarten. That is what this island looks like when it decides the flag belongs to all of us — because it does.

So today, I am not just observing Flag Day. I am calling on every St. Maartener — every resident, every business owner, every school, every family — to make this day louder than it has ever been. Rally around our flag.

Put a flag on your car. On your home. On your business. On your boat. Wear the colors. Tell your children what the flag means. Tell them about Roselle Richardson. Tell them about the people who built this island and the people who are still building it today.

If you find yourself in Philipsburg today, join the community parade. Support it. Be part of it.

And wherever you are — take a photo, share a post, call a friend, start a conversation. Make this day visible.

Because forty-one years is not just a number. It is a foundation. And what we build on that foundation — the traditions we grow, the pride we pass on, the culture we refuse to let fade — that is up to us.

Semper Progrediens. Always progressing.

Happy Flag Day, St. Maarten. Make it visible. Make it yours.

Minister Melissa Gumbs Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, June 13, 2026