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. It was her sixth hike that week to the flag, and it wouldn’t be her last.
Starting from the 2750 North Trailhead in North Ogden, Putnam made the trek Thursday evening to see the flag, which is raised annually before Veterans Day in memory of Maj. Brent Taylor, the former North Ogden mayor killed in 2018 while serving with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan.
For Putnam, the yearly 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.”
(Utah National Guard via AP) Maj. Brent Taylor of the Utah National Guard. Taylor, former mayor of North Ogden, who died in Afghanistan in 2018.
The first time a massive American flag was flown in Coldwater Canyon was shortly after Taylor was gunned down in an attack, according to his widow, 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 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, Jennie said, a group of North Ogden residents came together and raised Old Glory as a tribute.
“It started in the wake of the tragedy of my husband’s death,” she said, “but it’s really grown to be something that’s far bigger than any one member of the military. It’s now in honor of all of the military.”
The flag was so well-received by those in and around North Ogden, she said, the Major Brent Taylor Foundation decided to buy its own banner 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.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The giant flag known as "The Major," honoring the legacy of Maj. Brent Taylor, flies above North Ogden on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024.
On Nov. 2, the foundation held an event to bring the flag up the trail and hang it in the canyon. Jennie Taylor said nearly 300 people came to help, and she anticipates thousands will hike to it, drive to it, or view it from their windows until it is taken down Nov. 17.
Individuals can take one of three trails to see the Stars and Stripes 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.”
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jennie Taylor, widow of former North Ogden Mayor and Utah National Guard Maj. Brent Taylor, is shown in 2022.
The flag and the 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 saluting military members. On Friday, the foundation held its fourth annual Leadership Legacy Fundraiser Gala at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center, and, on Thursday, it staged a blood drive.
The ultimate goal of all these events and symbols, Taylor said, is to build community.
“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, said she sees the way it unites the community. The flag, she said, is a powerful way to show support for those in the nation’s armed forces.
“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.”
