Bedrock raises 141-foot flag over Hudson's Detroit for America's 250th

Bedrock Detroit raised a 141-by-85-foot American flag on the Woodward Avenue face of Hudson's Detroit this week, up from Thursday, July 2, through Monday, July 6, timed to the Fourth of July and the country's 250th birthday. Each stripe runs about six and a half feet tall. Each star is five feet wide. It's billed as the largest hanging U.S. flag in the country.

The display is a revival. The original J.L. Hudson's department store first draped a giant American flag on the same stretch of Woodward in 1923, and the tradition ran on national patriotic holidays for decades after. A later version, unveiled in 1949, covered seven stories of the old store and weighed 1,600 pounds; it took 55 men to hang. The original flag traveled to Washington in 1929 for a display on the U.S. Capitol and later appeared at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. The tradition was retired in 1976, when the banner was donated to the Smithsonian Institution.

The current flag first went up on the new Hudson's Detroit tower on Nov. 6, 2025, during the dedication of Nick Gilbert Way, the plaza street connecting Woodward Avenue to Library Street. The street is named for Nick Gilbert, son of Bedrock founder Dan Gilbert and his wife Jennifer, who died in 2023 at 26 from complications of neurofibromatosis. The flag came down the next day in 10 to 20 mph wind and went back up in time for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Hudson's Detroit is a 1.5 million-square-foot project with two distinct buildings, a 685-foot tower and a 12-story low-rise, separated by a walkable plaza. The shorter building opened in 2025; the tower stands as Michigan's second-tallest building.

"Bedrock will once again showcase The Flag at Hudson's, July 2 through July 6, 2026, on the Woodward Avenue facade in honor of Fourth of July and America's 250th anniversary, weather permitting," a Bedrock spokesperson said.

The semiquincentennial has been building toward this weekend all summer across the region. A Corvette owners' club arranged 296 cars into a flag formation on Belle Isle for Flag Day, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Salute to America concerts are running through the holiday. The Hudson's flag is the one visible from blocks away, no ticket required.

The wind clause is worth remembering. The flag is heavy fabric hung seven-plus stories up on the edge of downtown, and Detroit already proved in November that it comes down when conditions call for it. Whether it survives the run through Monday is a detail Bedrock won't control.

The flag flies during daylight hours over Woodward, visible from Campus Martius and the QLine platform at Grand Circus Park, free to see for anyone walking by.