HENEFER, Summit County — "If God wanted me that high, he would've put wings on me," Derek Welch remarked, his cowboy hat pushed back as he looks to the sky.
Welch never expected that anyone would need a powered lift as large as the one that rose before him on the day before the Fourth of July. He prefers to stay on the ground — despite his position as a delivery driver for equipment such as this.
The lift reached nearly 120 feet above a hill that rises even higher above the small town of Henefer as Kay Richins, the town's mayor, looked down.
"He's calling us," Richins said, a whistle emerges from his holster, his ringtone is the theme from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." He held his cowboy hat on, the strong winds at this height were trying to take it from him. "He's going to take us down and turn us around."
Richins was on a mission. The massive American flag that flies above Henefer was stuck and in need of replacing before the town of nearly 900 celebrates Independence Day. The large flag, 60 feet by 30 feet, had become worn out, torn and tattered.
But it may not be a mission he can overcome today. Richins' first expedition to the sky would lead to the first obstacle of the day, with many more on the way.
"It's very simple," Richins said minutes earlier, walking up a road to the flag. Koda, a black shadow of a dog, trots behind him. "It's only going to take just a second."
These flags are usually pretty easy to replace, Richins said. Ropes inside the pole can lower the flag to the ground so it can be unhooked.
This time around it was a bit more complicated.
Somehow, one of the cables that was supposed to hook on the pole got stuck on the gold ball at the very top. There would be no way of getting the flag down unless someone went up to it.
"I checked with the fire department; they couldn't do it. I checked with Rocky Mountain Power; they were all busy. They all wanted to help but didn't have the equipment available," Richins said. "So we rented this out of Heber City."
The lift Richins rented is supposed to reach up to 135 feet in the air, the largest the company rents out. It's so large that Welch did not have that much experience with it.
The lift itself is about 43 feet long and difficult to maneuver on the small patch of land on top of the hill. On either side, a steep decline that spells trouble.
"We started going up the first time and we found out that we couldn't reach the pole," Richins said. "We were set out a little bit too far away from the pole."
Richins could see his task in sight; the stuck part of the flag was about 12 feet out of reach.
"It was a beautiful sight to look down on the city," Richins said. "As long as we kept our eyes on the city, or straight ahead, or up, we're OK. Once we looked down on the ground, a person gets a little nervous."
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A year ago, when Richins was a council member in that town, he found an urge.
"I just had something driving me," he said. "I guess I was feeling patriotic."
When others feel patriotic, they may place an American flag on their front lawn. In Henefer, Richins would lead the charge to install 120 feet of patriotism high above the town he was born and raised in.
Money and labor were volunteered for the effort. Friends bought the pole, filled the concrete and Richins bought the flags. He said each one can cost $1,600.
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For attempt two, Welch lowered Richins down, repositioned the equipment on a slight slope and tried again.
"The machine has a sensor on it that if it's on too much of a slope it will not allow it to go up all the way," Richins said. It would be a no-go, the machine was taking safety as precedence.
Richins was not above moving literal mountains for this pursuit, however. As a storm began to form a backdrop, Richins called his cousin, Rulon Richins, and a few moments later a small green tractor makes its way up the hill.
The two cousins, along with Welch, began moving earth when gusts of wind took over. Fine dust was everywhere, limiting their visibility and dashing away their chances.
"If we would've been all the way up there when that wind came up, who knows, it could have tipped the machine over," Kay Richins said.
That would be the end of the mayor's mission — at least for July 3. The wind would remove too much visibility, and a coming storm would further worsen safety concerns.
Richins said they would try another day, one without so much wind. For now, the tattered, stuck flag would fly above the city of Henefer during its annual July Fourth celebrations. It would be an American flag, nonetheless.
"Maybe some people wouldn't notice it," the mayor said. "But I do."