Annual 9/11 flag replacement ceremony held Sunday on US-50 West above Carson City
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 09/11/2023 - 8:10am
For more than two decades, Christopher "Chris" Sneed has climbed up a rock outcropping off of US-50 West above Carson City, to plant a flag in honor of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. He changes the flag annually on Sept. 10 so there is a new flag to start off 9/11 with, giving the day a new beginning with the new flag.
This year, a crowd once again gathered along the highway to watch Chris climb the rock and change the flag.
Granite Construction donated their time to provide traffic control and closed down the lane next to the rock to keep the area safe for attendees.
Bagpiper Sean Cummings was there once again and climbed up to the base of the rock to play during the ceremony.
"This was an attack on the world, all religions and all races," said Chris before climbing the rock. "This was an attack on mankind."
The tradition started on the day of the attacks on the country, killing 2,750 people in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 in Pennsylvania, forever changing the world.
As the television at Spitzen Lumber in Incline Village was showing the planes hitting the Trade Center towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, Chris was inside the store getting supplies for a job he was doing at the time for Granite Construction.
"I said to myself, this is not good," says Chris of that day. "I knew then that everything about all of our lives was about to change."
As he turned to leave the store he saw some flags by the door and bought two of them. The crew closed up the job site for the day and headed home to their families.
Chris was driving home to Carson City when he looked at the big rock formation off US50, one he'd passed often, and decided to climb it, giving himself time to grasp the situation before getting to his family. Chris had been rock climbing since the age of 15 and knew then and there that he had to climb.
"I took a moment, stopped, climbed up, and put one of the flags from Spitsen in a crevice in the rock," said Chris.
The next day at the job site, Chris's coworkers said to him, 'Hey, did you see that flag on the highway?'
When he told them he did it, Chris said they appreciated it, and that it was awesome.
He made the display more permanent and bought a bigger flag, the type made for homes with hollow tube holders. That turned out to not be strong enough for the location and had to replace it a few times.
Chris later worked for the South Tahoe Public Utility District and custom-built a flag holder with a steel pole to fit in a crack-up on the rock. Since then he said he doesn't have to tend to it very often and only once has it blown down in all the years since its placement.
Since then, lights have been donated to provide uplighting on the flag. The area is private property but Chris has permission to climb and change the flag and lights, when needed.
He did the flag-changing anonymously for years.
Chris, who is a 1988 graduate of South Tahoe High School, now lives in Sparks. His 21-year-old son Haiden Sneed joined in Sunday and climbed the rock to help out dad.
Chris's mother Sandy Gray of Carson City, and his sister Shelley Hunt of Tennessee were also at the changing of the flag (before the trio heads to Ireland on Tuesday).
"I cry every time," said Sandy. Even though she'll soon be moving to Alabama she said she'll be back for the September 10 flag change every year.
"I think it's so awesome, it shows respect," said Haiden of his dad's annual flag ceremony. "It's not about politics, it should bring us together."
Most of those in the crowd were members of area motorcycle clubs, including Chris's Henchmen MC. Each year the flag that is installed has a patch or other memorial attached to it. Then, when removed the following year, is donated to a deserving person or memory.
This year's flag was given to the president of his Henchmen club in honor of a member who died this year of cancer. He had his dad's military name tag from Vietnam sewn into the corner of the 2020 flag. In 2021, Marine guards were there, and as the flag was removed they handed the flag to his sister Shelley who traveled out that year as well.
