What:

Official national first-day-of-issue ceremony for the Red, White and Blue Forever stamps. The four unique postage stamp designs feature the U.S. flag and will be unveiled and available for sale starting that day.

Who:

David Stowe, District Manager, San Francisco District, U.S. Postal Service
Edward Jarvis, President of WESTPEX

When:

2:00 p.m. PT
Friday, April 25, 2014

Where:

Marriott Burlingame Airport (WESTPEX stamp show)
1800 Old Bayshore Highway
Burlingame, CA  94010

Background:

Today the U.S. Postal Service introduces the Red, White and Blue Forever stamps.
The United States flag has long served as a powerful symbol of national pride. This year, the U.S. Postal Service honors the U.S. flag with the issuance of four self-adhesive Red, White, and Blue Forever stamps designed for business use and sold in a coil format of 10,000 stamps. The stamps feature a modern interpretation of a flying U.S. flag, each with a slightly different wave of stars and stripes.

It was President Woodrow Wilson who embraced the idea of a holiday to celebrate the U.S. flag. In 1916, he issued a proclamation in which he suggested that June 14 “be observed as Flag Day with special patriotic exercises, at which means shall be taken to give significant expression to our thoughtful love of America.”

The U.S. flag remains a powerful symbol. “In those broad stripes and bright stars, we see the arc of the American story,” President Barack Obama said in his 2013 Flag Day proclamation, “from a handful of colonies to 50 States, united and free.”

These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the First-Class Mail one-ounce letter rate in effect at the time of use.