World’s largest free-standing flag flies near Lake Michigan

I bet you didn’t know that the largest free flying American Flag in the world flies proudly less than 3 miles from Lake Michigan. The flag is just east of I-43 at Acuity Insurance in Sheboygan Wisconsin (which is only 117 miles in a straight line from Grand Rapids).

The flag is on a pole that’s 400 feet high. By comparison, the Amway Grand Plaza is 315 feet high. It’s 100 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty. There is a ladder inside the pole. You can climb to the top inside the pole.

The flag itself is 140 feet by 70 feet (approx. 10,000 square feet). Each stripe is 5 feet across and each star is 3 feet across. The flag weighs 340 pounds. It takes a minimum of five people to lower and raise the flag.

The flag was shredded by a severe thunderstorm on the evening of June 2, 2020. The anemometer at the top of the flag pole measured a wind gust to 90 mph in that storm. A crew was quickly assembled that evening to take down the shredded flag – searching the ground to recover every piece. A new flag was quickly raised the next morning.

Acuity Insurance usually has 6 flags at their site and each flag is flown for about 130 days. Then the flag is replaced and a ceremony is held at the local VFW to retire the used flag.

You can read more about the flag here .

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.

Happy Fourth of July!

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.