In keeping with the arrival of Memorial Day, two new American flags now fly above Lambeau Field.
The impressively sized flags, 15 feet by 25 feet, were raised Friday at 1 p.m.
Located on top of the stadium's indoor club seats on the north end of the facility, the new flags are the culmination of the desire to improve Lambeau Field's honoring of America, an effort first discussed last fall.
"Once the Lambeau Field redevelopment project was complete and we had our first games in the stadium last fall, we realized the old flag and flagpole appeared a bit small compared to the larger size of the new facility," said Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan. "We needed something more prominent to appropriately honor our country and decided to upgrade that component of the stadium. We also heard from a few fans that they had trouble locating the flag during the anthem, so this will definitely help in that area, too.
"The new, larger flags are a great way to honor America and the timing worked out for it to be done for Memorial Day weekend."
The flags are positioned atop 72-foot high flagpoles which are stationed on top of the northeast and northwest corners of the stadium, above the club seats. All told, the flags are flying at 180 feet above ground.
Once the plans were set, the team worked with Kocken and Associates, of De Pere, Wis., on the design and engineering of the project. A major challenge of the design was ensuring both the structure and the flagpoles themselves could withstand the extreme wind load from the two large flags at that height.
Physical preparation for the new flagpoles began months ago with structural work, including reinforcing the area above the ceiling and on the roof with additional steel and concrete to support the extra load.
Final installation was completed this week with the new flags going up Friday.
The two flags will fly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and be illuminated by spotlights at night.
