Those in or around the McLoud area might have noticed a patriotic addition to the town. Resident Gary Hodde spent 35 hours and 85 gallons of paint to create a giant American flag in his yard.
“We are very much patriotic. We love our country, and we, as such, appreciate the veterans that fought for our freedom,” Hodde said. His wife had seen photos of others painting flags on social media, which is what started it all. “She kind of showed it to me, and we kind of talked about it and said, that’d be kind of cool to put in our yard.”
They did this project for the love of country and appreciation for the veterans who fought for that freedom, he said. The United States’250th anniversary also helped inspire the couple.
Hodde said they have never done a project like this before. It was pretty extensive, with only the two working on it. He said his wife, Janet, did all the calculations and figured out the numbers. After that, they made a grid for the big flag and then the blue part. Janet also figured out the size of the template they would need for the stars, and from there, they painted the flag one piece at a time.
Community support has been terrific, said Hodde, who previously worked at McLoud Schools for about 35 years and then at North Rock Creek for about four years after that part-time.
“This community of McLoud is very supportive of anything someone wants to do that’s positive. We’re fortunate to live in a community that is small enough to where most people know everybody else and they appreciate what we tried to do,” he said.
The only downside is that the paint isn’t lasting as long as Gary and Janet had hoped. They thought it would stay vibrant for about four weeks and that they wouldn’t need to redo it until right before the Blackberry Festival. However, it’s looking as though the flag is only going to make it several days.
“I’m going to have to leave it alone until June the 16th. And on June 16, I will redo it to have it ready for the Blackberry Festival,” he said. “I’m hopeful that it will not take me 85 gallons of paint.”
The Hoddes live on a road that leads right into the park where the festival is held, so many folks will walk right by the flag. Gary hopes folks enjoy the display as well as understadn that we’re all Americans.
Outside of the flag, the Hoddes also have signs thanking veterans and celebrating the U.S., as well as patriotic music playing.
“Even if the flag disappears for a couple of weeks, we’ll still continue to do that for a while. And… we just really want people to stop and have the same pride in their country as we do, which most people do,” he said. “We want them to really think about what those signs mean as far as thanking veterans and being appreciative of what we have.”