Firefighters, police officers and community members held the City of Santa Cruz’s third annual flag replacement ceremony at the town clock plaza downtown to honor Presidents Day. More than 30 people gathered on a sunny Thursday afternoon to watch the old flag come down and welcome the new one.
The ceremony featured the replacement of the tattered, weather-beaten American flag that had flown atop the clock tower for the previous year.
Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, in his opening speech, said the flag is more torn and tattered than the previous two flags, and serves as a metaphor for the current challenges facing the country.
“The flag is damaged, but it is not destroyed. It is a symbol of the strength of our country, the unity in our country, and the ability in this country to stand here and speak truth to power,” said Keeley. “I always loved my country, but I am in constant concern about my government. Those are two different concepts.”
Helen Shepherd, a longtime Santa Cruz resident living a couple blocks away, said she had noticed the flag was damaged during powerful windstorms in December and wondered when it would be replaced.
Santa Cruz musician and owner of comic store Atlas Fantasyworld Joe Ferrara serenaded the crowd of about three dozen people with an a cappella rendition of “God Bless America.”
A firefighter with the Santa Cruz Fire Department climbed an aerial ladder to replace the tattered flag. Members of the police honor guard then folded the flag into a triangle and handed it to John Ramirez, a Marine combat veteran who served in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1971.
“Patriotism is more than me holding this flag close to my heart or having this love-hate relationship with my country,” Ramirez said after the ceremony.
“I want our country to get it right, to keep working at making it right, because it’s not right,” he said. “What’s happening is not who we say we are.”
Keeley presented a brand-new American flag, and firefighter Adolfo Gonzalez climbed back up the aerial ladder to attach it to the flagstaff in place of the tattered one.
The wind picked up and the new flag billowed open as Ferrara performed another a cappella rendition, this time of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
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