West of the cache is one of the biggest American Flags I have
seen in the state. In 2002, this company erected a 100 foot tall
stainless steel flag pole to show their support for our country. A
30 foot by 60 foot flag was raised to wave beautifully at all the
passersby.
The flagpole, which has become a focal point when assembling for
holiday celebrations, such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and
Veteran’s Day, has found another use as well. During the
Christmas season, the flag is carefully stored away, and long
strands of Christmas lights are attached to the pole in Maypole
fashion. Being in the automation industry, they couldn’t let
the lights just sit there all aglow. They also created a musical
light show.
The first few years they used 32 strands of lights, with 3,250
green and 3,250 white incandescent bulbs, with cables and wires
totaling over 3 miles in length. When illuminated, they consumed as
much as 46,000 watts of power. In fact, the power company had to
install an additional power transformer near the tree to handle the
demand. In 2006, they switched to LED bulbs, using 3,250 of each in
red, green, white and blue. There are now 64 strands totaling over
7 miles of cables and wires. Since LEDs draw less current, they are
using less energy than the previous design. The tree is topped with
a man-sized star. Also, some of the outdoor lights located on the
building near the tree have been replaced with colored LED lights.
As a final touch, they place a life-size hand painted fiberglass
manger scene at the base of the tree each year. Year after year,
the manger scene is the subject of many letters of appreciation
from their neighbors.
FTF gets an Argentinian 10 Centavos coin. There is other
assorted swag including the standard Chinese good luck coin.
BRING YOUR OWN PEN
