The Great Falls Realtors Flag Project is celebrating the 40th year of the flag on Flag Hill. The 120-foot flag “Old Glory” was first raised on the 100th anniversary of Great Falls, on July 4th in 1984.
“It’s an amazing milestone when you look at what happens today and everything that goes on; things come and go. Having that flag at the end of tenth, it's just a reminder that our realtors are not going anywhere,” said Sharon Virgin, board chair for the Great Falls Realtors Flag Project. “We are community minded; we want to be a participant within our community, and we ask for them to be a participant also.”
Now, each year on Flag Day, the Great Falls Realtors Association, along with numerous community partners and members, hold a ceremony to celebrate the flag and what it stands for.
“They started it 40 years ago; realtors decided that we needed a statement point at the end of Great Falls here on [10th Avenue South], and they've just continued along with our community members to grow the involvement and the notoriety of the flag,” Virgin said.
Thanks to community support and donations, the flag remains flying and can be seen year-round.
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“We have a ton of community partners with the City of Great Falls, Great Falls Fire Rescue, the PD, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana National Guard, all the realtors, all the affiliate members; and then there's just a lot of cool little clubs in town that donate to our 501(c)(3) to keep the flag going. We get donations all the way from 100 miles outside of Great Falls radius,” said Zac Griffin, CEO of the Great Falls Association of Realtors.
The Great Falls Realtors Flag Project is a non-profit organization and rely on community support and donations to keep the flag flying.
Virgin added, “We would love to have as much community support as we can. The flag is an amazing item with our community and in our country, because it takes care of those that have fought for us in the past, and it's also taking care of those that are fighting for us now.”
The annual Flag Day ceremony will be held at Overlook Park at 8am on Friday, June 14th, open to everyone in the community.
