“Old Glory” on East First Street

By GARY CARL/for The Herald  —  Background: The national flag of the United States of America. It consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small white, five pointed stars in nine offset horizontal rows. Here, rows of six stars (top & bottom) alternate with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 U.S. States. The 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from Great Britain.

Thus, they became the first states in the United States of America.

The current design of the U.S. flag is its 27th; the design of the flag has been modified officially 26 times since 1777. The current iteration was ordered by President Dwight Eisenhower on August 21, 1959 and has been in use for over 62 years.

And here in Oakridge:

Not that long ago, in 2009, The Uptown Business Revitalization Association, (UBRA), took on the project of obtaining American flags for the uptown business district. George Custer was the President of UBRA at that time. Ron Freborg proposed the idea and headed up the effort with the blessing of George and the Board of Directors.

At that time, Ron was the Branch manager of Sterling Bank here in Oakridge and an active member of UBRA. In a recent telephone interview, Ron said the flags cost about $10 each, with the poles costing extra. Funding came from a variety of sources. The holes in the concrete were already in place and only a few additional holes needed to be drilled out. The city readily agreed. Today, we can appreciate our own American flags proudly flying on East First Street on all major holidays.

On East Main Street…
Putting out the flag and taking them in again on appropriate holidays has been an ongoing task. It has been performed by a small and dedicated group over the years. The flags don’t just magically appear! Like a kaleidoscope the volunteers change but over the years it always seems to get done. Recently, Mick Garvin was the president of UBRA and took the lead making sure the flags were displayed on the
appropriate holidays.

The tradition continues

Mick was steadfast and diligent and then in 2022 Eugene Cathcart was elected to head up UBRA and with it the responsibility/honor of posting the colors on all appropriate holidays. Through the years, Kevin Gobleman has been one of the dedicated regular volunteers. Whether raining or sunny you could always count on Kevin to help out. (By the way, if you don’t know who Kevin is, he’s the guy watering the flower pots on the light poles along East First Street all summer… that’s also a volunteer effort. Thank you, Kevin.)

Everyone likes to see the flags waving in the breeze as they drive along East First Street. If 6 or 7 volunteers show up, it takes about 15 minutes to get the flags out (or taken in). With fewer volunteers it just takes a bit longer. If you feel like you would like to help out as a volunteer displaying the flags, your invited to simply contact Eugene Cathcart, 541-736-6424. I’m sure your help will be appreciated.