On June 14, we celebrate Flag Day, but that hasn’t always been the case. Flag Day’s first formal observance didn’t take place until 1885—110 years after the United States' first national flag was flown.

1885 was quite a year for the US: the first skyscraper was built in Chicago, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor, and Dr. Pepper was served for the first time. In many ways, America had grown and changed since its inception.

So why did Flag Day finally come to be, years after the country’s origin?

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WHY THIRTEEN STRIPES

How did the American Flag come to have thirteen stripes? Most people already know that each stripe on the American Flag represents one of the thirteen original colonies that declared their independence from England on July 4th, 1776. But how did the design of the American Flag originate with thirteen stripes? To answer this question, we need to go back to what the original thirteen colonies were using as an ensign for their naval and merchant ships.

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One of our newest flags is the California state flag, also known as the Bear flag. The flag was adopted by California on February 3, 1911. The design of the flag includes a background which is white with a thick red border along the bottom. The red star and bear were taken from original Bear flag where the bear represents strength and unyielding resistance. While the original flag used a black bear, the current design uses a grizzly bear.

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Patriot Wood was born out of my love for our country, the Stars & Stripes and all things patriotic. It all started in the winter of 2013, when I made my first US flag wall hanging from discarded pallet wood. It had a simple but folksy look to it.

After I was finished, I liked how the flag looked, but I’m a perfectionist, so I began to think about all the ways I could improve upon it and make the final product even better. I wanted the flag to have a less rustic feel and more of a clean, exact look. The paint colors needed to be an true representation of our country's flag. The dimensions of the flag needed to be exact. I wanted it to be a piece that could be displayed both indoors and outdoors, and I was concerned the pallet wood may not hold up well in all-weather conditions.

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