North Ogden • Wendy Putnam laced up her sneakers and began her ascent to the massive 150-by-78-foot American flag displayed high in Coldwater Canyon on Thursday evening. It was her sixth hike to the flag this week, and it won’t be her last.
Starting from the 2750 North Trailhead in North Ogden, Putnam made the trek to honor the flag, which is raised annually in memory of Major Brent Taylor, the former North Ogden mayor killed in 2018 while serving with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan. For Putnam, the annual hike and the flag itself represent the freedom and the sacrifices made by military members.
“I love to go up there,” she said, “and just feel the love of it all.”
The first time a massive American flag was flown in Coldwater Canyon was shortly after Brent Taylor was killed, according to his wife, Jennie Taylor, who is also the executive director of the foundation created in his honor. At the time, Taylor’s friends remembered that an organization called Follow the Flag displayed a giant American flag each summer in Pleasant Grove, so they reached out to borrow the flag to honor Brent in North Ogden.
Within a week of his death, Taylor said, a group of North Ogden residents came together and raised the flag as a tribute.
“It started in the wake of the tragedy of my husband’s death,” Taylor said, “but it’s really grown to be something that’s far bigger than any one member of the military, and it’s now in honor of all of the military.”
The flag was very well-received by the North Ogden community, she said, so the Major Brent Taylor Foundation decided to purchase its own flag and make it an annual tradition. Since 2019, the foundation has flown the flag, named “The Major,” around the first two weeks of November. It has since become a cherished tradition for many.
On Nov. 2, the foundation held an event to bring the flag up the trail and hang it in the canyon. Taylor said nearly 300 people came to help, and she anticipates thousands of people will hike to it, drive to it, or view it from their windows until it is taken down on Nov. 17.
There are three trails that individuals can take to see the flag up close, suitable for beginning, intermediate and advanced hikers.
“The tradition is hiking,” Taylor said, “but it’s more than just a hike. It’s become a tradition of talking and community and celebrating that service.”
Both the flying of the flag and the Major Brent Taylor Foundation work to bridge gaps between civilians and the military through service, training and community engagement, Taylor said. For Veterans Week, the foundation also has a military tribute field set up at Pleasant View City Hall –– a display of dozens of flags paying tribute to military members. On Friday, the foundation held its fourth annual Leadership Legacy Fundraiser Gala at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center, and on Thursday, the foundation held a Veterans Memorial Blood Drive.
The ultimate goal of these events and symbols is to build community, Taylor said.
“It’s bringing together people in uniform with people out of uniform,” she said. “It’s trying to help people just stop for a minute. You see a flag that’s that big, you stop, right?”
Amber Wood, who lives across the street from the trailhead to the flag, said she sees the way it brings the community together each year when it is raised. The flag, she said, is a powerful way to show military members support and love.
“Traffic gets really busy, but you don’t even care about it,” Wood said, “because just what it represents and what it does for our community is just amazing.”
