The state of the flag: Facts and go-figures

Flag Day used to be a pretty big deal. Parades, Old Glory everywhere, three cheers for the red, white and blue, all that stuff. Maybe being more a hallmark than a Hallmark holiday hurt, or perhaps the problem came from being sandwiched between two other flag-happy, bigger-deal holidays, Memorial and Independence days.

Whatever the reasons, the annual feting of the stars and stripes has lost a lot of luster. Many, in fact, probably don't even know when it is. (It's Friday.)

Also fading is our knowledge of flags, including what we thought we knew: Contrary to widespread belief, Betsy Ross almost certainly had nothing to do with the first U.S. flag, and it actually is legal to burn a flag.

There's also no shortage of Minnesota-related facts and figures that many of us might not know about our national and state flags, starting with these 10 bits of minutiae:

• Minnesota does not observe June 14 as a legal holiday. In fact, Pennsylvania is the only state that does.

• A U.S. flag-inspired bow tie is "the No. 1 seller, for sure" at Minneapolis-based online retailer Northstar Neckwear, said owner Ross Thomas. He came up with the idea two years ago "playing around with friends" before starting the company. Oh, and unlike some of those yellow ribbons from the Iraq War, these babies are made in the USA — using "simple cotton from Jo-Ann Fabrics," Thomas said.

• Minnesota's current state flag was almost a century in the making. Sundry regimental flags were used from 1858 until a two-sided flag (one side white, one side blue) was devised in 1893, just in time to be displayed at the Chicago World's Fair. But over the years, the two sides often would pull apart, and the manufacturing cost, with silk embroidery on the state seal, was five times that of a "normal" flag. So in 1957, the Legislature decreed that a new, blue-on-both sides flag would become Minnesota's standard-bearer.

• The top star on the state flag represents the North Star.

• The Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) has a rotating display of four flags in the State Capitol's first-floor rotunda. MHS Capitol historic site manager Brian Pease said the current crop includes three from the Civil War: of the First Minnesota Infantry Regiment (used at Bull Run); a Fourth Minnesota Regimental ("one of the first ones used by a regiment that had a prominent role at Vicksburg and Sherman's March to the Sea," Pease said), and the last infantry regiment organized in the war, the 11th Minnesota. Pease said the display always includes a flag from the Spanish-American War, currently one for the 12th Minnesota Infantry Regiment.

• The current State Capitol was opened in January 1905. Later that year, state leaders and veterans decided to "parade" the battle flags from the old Capitol to the new one on June 14. Veterans of the Civil and Spanish-American Wars marched through downtown St. Paul, where, the Minneapolis Tribune reported, "the heads of the spectators were bared in reverence as the tattered emblems of union were carried past."

• Those ginormous U.S. flags that fly in front of Minnesota's 74 Perkins Family Restaurants are 20 feet tall and 30 feet wide but weigh only 18 pounds. Their spun tapered aluminum poles weigh 867 pounds and can withstand winds up to 169 miles per hour.

• For eight years, the Palmer Lake VFW put up American flags on five highway overpasses. Last summer, the Minnesota Department of Transportation told the veterans to remove the flags, citing the possibility of distracted driving. (State law prohibits the placement of objects within the limits of a highway.) MnDOT subsequently installed flags on 11 bridges along Hwys. 610, 10 and 252. MnDOT's Chris Joyce said the department is completing a new policy that should be implemented in the next few weeks.

Bill Ward • 612-673-7643