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Giant flagpole rises, giant flag to follow Monday Oct 10, 2016 at 12:01 AM Alex Madison of the Daily Courier Dan Kirkman's dream is one step closer to becoming reality. Heads were crooked to the sky as a 150-foot flagpole was slowly but surely erected on a foggy Thursday morning. People gathered behind Kirkman's Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop at 300 Union Ave. to see something they had never seen before: the lifting of a 16,000-pound, steel flagpole, certainly the tallest in Grants Pass and possibly the tallest in Oregon. Among those in the crowd was Dan's middle daughter, Sarah Bazen, holding her 2-year-old son, Leo, who looked a little sleepy. "It's always been a big dream of his to make this happen," she said of her father. "He shoots for the stars." The Stars and Stripes that is. Kirkman is in the middle of fundraising to purchase a 40-by-60-foot nylon flag, also possibly the largest in Oregon, that will fly atop the pole. He has raised $38,000 so far for the $50,000 project, and says most donations have come from individuals. That includes $10,000 from his own pocket. Kirkman, dressed in a bright orange T-shirt, was surrounded Thursday by a crew, a crane, and a backhoe loader all geared up to raise the pole and place it in a 15-foot pre-dug hole. A giant gold ball graces the top of the pole that arrived Monday on a flatbed semi-truck from Michigan in four separate pieces, each over 40-feet long. The pieces were then welded together by Steve Fitchie of Performance Fabrication, and then painted white. The crowd, many with their phones out, waited anxiously for almost an hour to witness the pole as its bottom half was lifted into a backhoe loader and then slowly erected upright with the crane. Inch by inch the pole became more vertical until finally it was ready to be placed in the hole. Success. The pole is now secured and can be seen from the Redwood Highway. "What a morning," a relieved Kirkman said afterward. "That was craziness, every bit was so intense." A "welcome home and thank you party" will be held for the flag raising, which is planned for Nov. 12, the day after Veterans Day. The celebration will bring the Grants Pass Wind Ensemble, Forever Honor Horseback Riders, and state Rep. Carl Wilson. Kirkman is hoping to have World War II fighter jets perform a flyover. The base of the flag will have a bench, a plaque with the names of people who donated more than $500 to the project, and a concrete, sand-blasted wall with engravings of the different branches of the military. A BearFest "America" bear donated by Evergreen Federal Bank will also be installed next to the base of the flag. Kirkman's wife, Patti, said the flag will remind her of her father and brother, both military men and both gone now. "When they raise the flag, I'll be thinking about them," the mother of four said. Nancy Wieber, a friend of the Kirkmans, came to see the show and support what she calls the greatest country in the world. "It's fabulous," she said. "It's going to bring a lot to the community. Our country needs it right now." Kirkman's dream, which dates back almost 10 years, is not to fly the biggest flag in Oregon. His dream is to honor veterans. The Navy veteran himself is doing this for those who have served the country, and he's doing it in the biggest way he can. Donations can be sent to 1600 Tamara Circle, Grants Pass OR 97527 or can be made online at gofundme.com/foreverhonor. All checks should be made out to the Greater Grants Pass Rotary Foundation.