Follow the Flag group readies to unfurl giant flag in North Ogden next week

Volunteers practice carrying the large flag that Follow the Flag will unfurl over North Ogden’s Coldwater Canyon over Veteran’s Day on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019. | Alex Cabrero, Deseret News

PLEASANT VIEW — Kirk Chugg doesn’t want veterans to be forgotten and is looking for a way to give back.

Chugg is part of the Follow the Flag group, a team of volunteers best known for hanging massive American flags across canyons in Utah.

At Weber High School on Friday, the group tested the flag to ensure it unfurls the way they want it to before showcasing it in North Ogden for next week.

The flag named “The Major” — in memory of Brent Taylor, North Ogden mayor and a major in the Army National Guard killed in Afghanistan — will be unfurled in Coldwater Canyon Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 a.m. The flag will fly until Nov. 12, a day after Veterans Day, according to a Follow the Flag Facebook event page.

The first time the volunteers unrolled the flag during Friday’s practice, something tore. The second attempt, however, was a success.

“We have to try to do these different things and these scenarios in a gym, let alone a 11,000-foot gap across the canyon,” Follow the Flag founder Kyle Fox said.

Chugg said when when things don’t go as planned “we pull together and figure it out.”

Unlike Christmas, Chugg said Veterans Day is not as recognized.

“It’s very under celebrated. And we want people to remember the veterans,” he said.

The growing group’s tradition of flying a large flag in Utah’s canyons began in 2015.

Last year, the group paid tribute to Taylor, who was killed in Afghanistan during his fourth deployment.

To honor Taylor, the group hung a 30-foot-by-60-foot flag across Grove Creek Canyon in Utah County.

Earlier this year, their 150-foot-by-78-foot flag “Big Betsy” was damaged in a storm as it hung in Grove Creek Canyon near Pleasant Grove. A GoFundMe campaign started by the group raised $15,255 to replace the flag.

Alex Cabrero, Deseret News

Volunteers practice carrying the large flag that Follow the Flag will unfurl over North Ogden’s Coldwater Canyon over Veteran’s Day on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.

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