Copyright Kalispell Inter Lake
Kalispell's Veterans of Foreign Wars post is in talks with City Hall after officials designated the nonprofit’s longstanding tradition of displaying American flags on patriotic holidays as a special event requiring permits and insurance. While the Kalispell Business Improvement District agreed to put the flag displays under its insurance in October, the city's requirements seemingly came out of the blue to members of Glacier Park Post 2252, located on First Avenue West. The post boasts 500 members and has displayed flags along Main Street on holidays for over three decades. “You think about all the flag displays, all the veterans, all the combat veterans who have served and sacrificed for these colors, and now we have a city that’s asking us to acquire insurance and get a permit to display the flag and just fundamentally that doesn’t feel right,” said Les Kodlick, a post member and Air Force veteran. “Quite frankly, all our members strongly object to even the concept,” he said. City officials in the spring notified the post that it would need an event permit annually for the eight holidays — including Veterans Day and Memorial Day — it displays flags downtown as well as carry liability insurance. The permit cost $700 and insurance totaled $750,000, which the post could not afford, according to Quartermaster Ryan Keeler, a Marine veteran who handles the post's bookkeeping and gives assistance to veterans in need. Keeler asked the state and national VFW organizations to be placed under their insurance, but “everybody laughed when we asked them,” he said. The national organization had never heard of a city requiring a post to carry liability insurance for displaying flags, Kodlick said. Interim City Manager and Development Services Director Jarod Nygren told the Inter Lake that the post must obtain permits like any other group because the city is liable for anything on its property. When asked what has changed in the decades the post has displayed the American flag on holidays, Nygren said nothing has. “This is what everybody is supposed to do,” he said. But Kodlick said that five or six complaints in 2024 about the American flags prompted the city to enforce the requirement. Keeler said one complaint came from someone who shut a flag in the door of their van and then drove off, ripping the flag off its mount. Kodlick said the city declined to specify what the complaints were when members asked for details. The post has willingly adjusted the mounts when a flag blocks street signs or hangs too low. The post commander also reviewed each flag with city officials to make sure none were obstructive, Kodlick said. “If they present any kind of potential hazard, we don’t want that,” Kodlick said. After unsuccessful requests for help from the larger VFW organization, the Kalispell Business Improvement District in October agreed to place the post’s flag displaying practice under its insurance policy for city beautification. The displays will fall under the same insurance coverage the board uses to display flowers on streetlamps downtown and will not come at any additional cost, according to Kalispell Business Improvement District Chair Kisa Davison. “I’m really excited that we can support their efforts in that,” Davison said at the district’s Oct. 21 meeting, where the board unanimously approved the move. A memorandum of understanding written by the local VFW post is being ironed out between the Business Improvement District and city officials before being finalized. The agreement should also omit any permit costs, Keeler said. The post members intend for the agreement to be permanent. “Our successor should not have to address this issue again. It’s astonishing that it came up in the first place,” he said. WHETHER OR not the agreement is signed off on before Veterans Day, American flags will go up along Main Street and First Avenue West on Nov. 11 just like every other year. “It’s Veterans Day. How can we not do that? It’s not optional,” Kodlick said. Community members and local youth sport teams often help to display the flags during holidays throughout the year, which Keeler said teaches kids about volunteerism and patriotism. Montana has one of the highest percentage of veterans in the state, so flying flags in downtown Kalispell to show appreciation and respect is essential, Kodlick said. “It’s service, it’s sacrifice, it’s blood, it’s losing a buddy. There’s intense meaning to that flag, to having those colors displayed on Main Street,” Kodlick said. “It’s not just the people who served who get it. It’s every Kalispell citizen, every community member, every American who knows what that represents.”
