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Video shows how flag is hung on Mackinac Bridge - Video
Mary Drier
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:24:29 EST
Long may She wave.
This Veterans Day, it will take just one person to unfurl a 30-foot by 60-foot American flag from the north tower of the Mackinac Bridge.
A new video details how a new device designed and built by Mackinac Bridge Authority (MBA) staff - plus a little outside expertise - made that possible.
The video, posted on the Michigan Department of Transportation's (MDOT) YouTube channel and the MBA website, www.MackinacBridge.org, includes interviews with MBA Maintenance Supervisor Ned McLennan, MBA master machinist Bill Fitzpatrick, and McLennan's mother, Patti O'Brien.
McLennan and Fitzpatrick recount the challenges of building the device and the feeling of success when it functioned as intended.
"It seemed like it was never going to happen; it was one hurdle after another," Fitzpatrick said. "That happened a number of times along the way, so when (finishing the device) finally did happen it was almost unbelievable."
"When it came down and everything went successfully and as according to plan, I couldn't have been happier," McLennan said. "I think Bill and I were on cloud nine that day."
While the new device was designed and built by MBA staff, O'Brien, who is also a seamstress, was called in to reinforce the flag against the Mackinac Straits winds.
The U.S. Flag is displayed at the bridge six times a year on the following holidays: Memorial Day, Flag Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Patriots Day, and Veterans Day.
