Santa Monica Ferris Wheel Lit For Flag Day

SANTA MONICA, CA — The Ferris wheel in Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier was lit with a 130-foot-tall waving American flag at sunset Sunday evening to mark Flag Day. There was also a celebration was held earlier in Brentwood.

The Pacific Wheel was lit with the flag until 12:30 a.m. Monday. The wheel's more-than 174,000 LED lights will also be programmed to provide entertainment of red, white and blue colors, patterns and transitions.

Pacific Park remains closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

What organizers billed as a celebration of the birthdays of three American icons was held Sunday afternoon on the northeast corner of Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards in Brentwood. The event also celebrated the 245th anniversary of the formation of the U.S. Army and President Donald Trump's 74th birthday, which were also both on Sunday.

Flag Day commemorates the passage on June 14, 1777 of the 31-word Flag Act of 1777 by the Second Continental Congress, which declared "the flag of the 13 United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day. National Flag Day was established by a resolution of Congress in 1949 and Flag Week by a resolution approved in 1966, calling on all U.S. citizens to display the flag during the week beginning June 14.

"For more than 200 years, the Stars and Stripes has represented liberty, justice and the rule of law," Trump said in the proclamation declaring Sunday Flag Day and the start of Flag Week. "Recently, as our nation has come together to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, our flag has been a reminder of the courage, tenacity and loyalty that define the indomitable American spirit.

"Our great flag causes us to reflect humbly on the immeasurable price that has been paid to keep it `so gallantly streaming.' Throughout our nation's history, proud patriots have nobly answered the call of duty when our country needed them most.

"The Star-Spangled Banner serves as an everlasting remembrance of the sacrifices heroes of every generation have made in conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our flag ensures that we never forget the incredible sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made to defend our liberty and way of life."

- City News Service and Patch Staffer Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

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