Searching for American flags

WORLAND – Word of mouth, bits of information and tips received from asking around has helped one City of Worland employee begin what has now turned into a group effort to show patriotic pride in Worland for the upcoming summer holidays.

Nick Kruger is the City of Worland Building Inspector, and approximately three weeks ago, he began a quest for the flags that used to line Big Horn Avenue on the lights in the main downtown corridors during Memorial Day.

"Four or five years ago was the last time those flags were put into place," Kruger said. "I always thought it was odd that we had all those flag holders, but no flags."

"I have taken a personal interest – and I have gotten permission from the City to do this," and Kruger said he's "trying to pull a little bit of Worland's history by bringing the flags together," in reference to why he's looking for the flags.

His search for the flags began the old-fashioned way, by word of mouth, and since then Kruger has identified 25 flags and the flag poles that go with them during his search. There are 47 flag holders on the lights and Kruger said he is, "trying to find the rest of the flags and poles to have the entire main street lined."

The search

His first stop in the search to find the flags began at the city shop. Kruger asked the employees there if they put the flags up. Jeff Taylor informed him that the Boy Scouts have put the flags up as of late, but the city shop would store the flags.

City shop employees then mentioned Duane Whitlock who worked at Bank of the West was the last person to store the flags, and Kruger went over to the bank to find him. When Kruger went to find Whitlock he found out Whitlock no longer worked there, but was informed of Whitlock's current job by the women who worked at Bank of the West.

Whitlock originally had the flags stored at Bank of the West, but when he moved over as president of ANB Bank on Big Horn Ave, he took them with him. "It's really cool that he's been keeping an eye of them for the past five years," Kruger said.

What's next

Kruger picked up the 25 flags and flag poles at ANB on Thursday afternoon and said he does not know where the rest of the flags are, but hopes he can find them in time for the summer holidays like Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, and even Veterans Day in November if the weather permits the use of them.

If the rest of the flag do not turn up, Kruger said one of his theories is the city only had 25 flags to begin with and would put the flags on every other flag pole.

If Kruger's theory is true, he said he hopes to raise enough money to purchase 25 more flags and flag poles so the city would have an even number of 50 flags.

At this time nothing is final, and Kruger said he is only in the exploratory stage. "I haven't crunched any numbers yet to see what we need to get the rest of the flag poles, and I still have to go through the rest of the flags to see what kind of condition they are in," Kruger said.

While sorting through the flags at ANB, Kruger said a lot of the flags were of good quality and the stars were actually stitched on as opposed to being printed on. Some of them did look a little weathered, but the quality was better than he expected, Kruger said.

Whitlock said they have previously been replacing some of the weathered flags along the way.

The condition and type of flag is important and now that Kruger knows the quality of the flags at ANB bank, he can try to find the closet match to make the flags look as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

Eventually Kruger said he hopes he can open up his search to the community and see if any organizations, service organizations or private donors have additional flags, and if his theory of only having 25 flags is true, Kruger said he would like to see if anyone can donate flags or the money for them.

If anyone has any information or knows the whereabouts of the remaining 22 flags, contact Nick Kruger at city hall with the number 307- 347-2486 ext. 103.