Brad's Beat: Joplin's Giant US Flag
By: Brad Douglas
Updated: July 4, 2012
JOPLIN, MO--- If you're driving on I-44 towards Joplin, you can't miss this flag. Crossroads Chevrolet has the biggest flag in the city and it clocks in 60x30 ft.
"We wanted a big flag to be noticed from the highway and be known to have the biggest flag," states Corey Stansill, he cares for the flag.
Suzy Sperandio and Corey Stansill are in charge of maintaining it. It takes a lot of work, because they often have to check it for rips and the May 22nd tornado pretty much destroyed it.
"It had massive holes near the end of it. It just didn't even look the same," says Suzy Sperandio.
They do have back up flags in the back and they're not cheap. A flag of this size costs about $1400 and it depends on how long it lasts.
"If it's really windy, 2 to 3 a week. If it's nice summer not many storms it lasts a few months," states Corey Stansill.
If it does get damaged, they have it sewn up to fix the rips.
"They take out the stitches put new stitches in just puts it up," states Suzy Sperandio.
Getting it down can be a challenge as we learned on this windy day.
"A few times we had people going up in the air with the flag," state Corey Stansill.
When they get it down it can't touch the ground so they try to lay it on the bed of a truck. They say so many people see the flag and if it's down for a couple of hours, they'll hear about it.
"If we're not flying it, they get upset about it. Why you'd take it down? Why don't you have it up? We're trying," states Sperandio.
The US has several codes on how to properly handle the flag. Including ho you saw in the story, it should never touch the ground. Also the American flag should always be on top of the state or and other flags. A flag can be displayed 24 hours a day as long as it's illuminated.
"We wanted a big flag to be noticed from the highway and be known to have the biggest flag," states Corey Stansill, he cares for the flag.
Suzy Sperandio and Corey Stansill are in charge of maintaining it. It takes a lot of work, because they often have to check it for rips and the May 22nd tornado pretty much destroyed it.
"It had massive holes near the end of it. It just didn't even look the same," says Suzy Sperandio.
They do have back up flags in the back and they're not cheap. A flag of this size costs about $1400 and it depends on how long it lasts.
"If it's really windy, 2 to 3 a week. If it's nice summer not many storms it lasts a few months," states Corey Stansill.
If it does get damaged, they have it sewn up to fix the rips.
"They take out the stitches put new stitches in just puts it up," states Suzy Sperandio.
Getting it down can be a challenge as we learned on this windy day.
"A few times we had people going up in the air with the flag," state Corey Stansill.
When they get it down it can't touch the ground so they try to lay it on the bed of a truck. They say so many people see the flag and if it's down for a couple of hours, they'll hear about it.
"If we're not flying it, they get upset about it. Why you'd take it down? Why don't you have it up? We're trying," states Sperandio.
The US has several codes on how to properly handle the flag. Including ho you saw in the story, it should never touch the ground. Also the American flag should always be on top of the state or and other flags. A flag can be displayed 24 hours a day as long as it's illuminated.
