Flag shrinks as winter nears

Forest Grove’s 30-by-60 foot banner goes to the shop for a minor touch-up and a smaller ‘stars and bars’ takes over, but city’s fire chief says the big flag will return in time for Veterans Day

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 5, 2009

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The size of Forest Grove’s monumental American flag at the intersection of Maple Street and 19th Way created a bit of a flap when it was installed this spring.

Some residents felt the flag was too big. Others felt those who were bothered by the flag’s size weren’t being patriotic enough.

But now, a smaller flag is flying atop the 120-foot flagpole. Did the city finally cave?

Not really, said Forest Grove Fire Chief Michael Kinkade. The larger flag needed a minor repair, and with winter-like conditions coming in, he thought it would be a good idea to put up the smaller flag, roughly half the biggest flag’s size.

“We’ve been debating about how we should do this. Should we fly the large flag all the time, or the small flags during the winter?” Kinkade told the News-Times Monday.

The Coon family, which donated the flag and flagpole to the city this year, is handling the repairs of the large flag and is consulting with city officials about which flag should be flown during the winter.

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