If you’ve driven around the central part of Sault Ste. Marie this week, you may have noticed a giant maple leaf in the sky.
Waving atop the tallest flagpole in the area is one of northern Ontario’s biggest Canadian flags, located at Service Rentals and Sales on Sackville Road.
Last week, the business raised the new 20 x 40-foot flag, boasting a maple leaf big enough to do the towering 120-foot flagpole justice.
“To my knowledge, it is the largest flag in the area – in northern Ontario, I think,” said the store’s general manager, Darren McGonegal.
“Last summer we had a flag on it, but not this kind of flag.”
After considering sheer weight and wind drag, McGonegal said the business custom ordered the flag and went with the biggest they “thought that would be safe to put on the pole.”
When asked why the business raised the outsized flag, McGonegal said he feels it’s an important time to celebrate Canada.
“We're proud to be Canadian, and we need everybody to see that we're proud to be Canadian, so we got the biggest flag that we can get to put on that pole.”
Although a trade war looms with the U.S., McGonegal said the flag is about celebrating “Canadian heritage,” not about making a political statement.
“Now, more than ever, we need to stand united as Canadians, and do what we need to do to prosper, right? That's all it is,” he said.
“It's just a statement that has nothing to do with our American neighbours. We love our neighbours. We just want to be loud and proud with our Canadian heritage.”
Service Rentals and Sales originally installed the 120-foot flagpole in 2023 after ordering it from a school that was being torn down in Toronto.
After two months of work, and the help of several local contractors, a 15 x 35-foot flag was raised on the new flagpole – only to be replaced by the new larger flag last week.
–with files from Alex Flood