New flag set for dedication on Flag Day

Photos by Brad Mosher.

When Flag Day is observed June 14, there will be some­thing different in Bowman.

There will be a dedication planned for the new large flag that was unfurled in early May atop a 100-foot flagpole.

The event will start at 11 a.m.

The new flagpole is located next to the small travel infor­mation cabin on the west side of the Frontier Travel Center on Highway 12.

Since it has started flying, the Bowman School students have become involved also, coming outside as a group on Fridays to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

According to Cal Klewin, the area around the base of the flagpole has been getting some extra attention, with plans to finish up some landscaping be­fore the dedication ceremony. “We are putting some land­scaping, some flowers with dif­ferent groups working on that with the 4-H Clubs. They are going to do some design work.

The flag now is the only one at the location. There were three smaller flagpoles there which were used by the Bow­man Chamber of Commerce, Klewin said. “We had to pull their American flag down be­cause you couldn’t have two of them (American flags) at differ­ent heights,” he explained.

The project was done by the three county American Legion posts and the communities, he said. “It was Bowman, Rhame and Scranton, along with get­ting private contributions to buy the flags. Private contributions have bought flags for future use.

“The Frontier Travel Center provided the spot (location). They are providing the electric­ity to light the flag. We have had a lot of volunteer help and a lot of ‘in-kind’ from different companies,” Klewin added.

The flag dimensions are 25 feet by 30 feet. “It has 13 stripes and 50 stars,” he added.

“We wanted to get it done right,” Klewin said, noting that it took some time to plan it and move forward. “We have got­ten lots of positive comments about it (the flag).”

Handling the flag is also something that needs to be planned out. “The way the flag came to us was in a bag and we had to hook grommet by grom­met by grommet. There is five grommets so it is really hard to handle. When we bring it down, we are going to have to have some people to bundle it up so that it doesn’t touch the ground.”