Storm destroys another Canadian flag at Surrey mall

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Surrey’s Guildford mall’s iconic giant Canadian flag isn’t flying today: it was damaged in Thursday’s wind storm.

The flagpole has been at the Barnes Wheaton dealership since Expo 86, and the owners plan to replace the flag over the weekend, says Manager Devron Quast.

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“We had a big wind storm here and we came to work and it was completely threaded out,” he says. “Each flag is between five and six thousand dollars each, but we’re just really proud to have the flag here.”

He says it doesn’t happy very often – the last time was about seven or eight months ago – but when it does, the dealership gets dozens of calls from local people and customers demanding the flag be replaced.

“You know, we definitely don’t want to be disrespectful when the flag’s not up there, but a lot of people are saying, ‘Hey, the flag has an issue. When are you going to fix it?'” he says. “The community notices right away.”

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But it’s not a cheap and easy fix. It can cost up to $6,000 to replace each flag, and they spend around $40,000 a year to maintain them. It’s expensive, but he says “we just try to take care of it as best as we can.”

The flagpole was moved near the corner of 104th Avenue and 152nd Street from the Expo 86 lands after Vancouver hosted the world fair.

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