Flags that go up in the morning have to come down in the evening (unless, of course, we put lights up in such a way that the flag is illuminated all night long, which has a very high probability of never happening). During a normal week (on a higher level, most weeks are normal. On a macro level, none of them are), we come into the Center at 9am four days a week, have one day off, and come into the Center at 2:30pm two days a week. Right now that is Friday and Saturday afternoons. This transfer ends on Saturday night, so our schedule swaps next week.

So, we’ve been responsible for putting the flag up this week on Monday through Wednesday. We had our Preparation Day on Thursday, and were back in the Center this afternoon. This was the first night that we’ve been responsible for taking the flags down.

Taking them down is as big a deal as putting them up in the morning, just a little bit easier. It takes four people to take the flags down and again, it takes about fifteen minutes. The easier part is that it is much less strenuous to crank the flags down than to crank them up. With four people, one pushes in the crank, a second person cranks the flags down, a third person catches the Hawaiian Flag while the fourth person unhooks the Hawaiian Flag. These two then fold up the flag and give it to the person pushing in the crank. The third person catches the American Flag while the fourth person unhooks the flag and the two of them fold up that flag.

We take the flags down right now after the last tram goes back to the Polynesian Cultural Center which is a bit after 7pm. It’s dark by then, a bit later than we should be taking the flags down. I don’t see us being able to do that while we’re working with the guests who come from the PCC every twenty minutes from 3:10pm through 6:50pm.

It is nice to have the flags up, though. The pole looks very barren without them and the pole is high enough and the flags large enough that they look quite nice up in the air.

The day is done and so am I. Ta Ta For Now!