Iconic flag barn in Madera County tagged with graffiti

The iconic flag barn on Highway 41 in Madera was slapped with graffiti recently and people are not happy.

The barn that was painted in patriotic colors after 9/11 to honor the victims of the tragedy has become a part of the Valley’s landscape. Visitors from all over the world, including many on their way to Yosemite, have taken a photo in front of it. It even has its own Facebook page, “Freedom Flag Barn”

So when someone sprayed their graffiti tag, DYMK, prominently over the stripes, people reacted.

“Some people are just so ignorant how would they feel if we go to their house and start tagging” wrote See Paeng on The Bee’s Facebook page.

“Bastards. I bet it took them all night!” said Christine Davidian.

The barn and the 200-acre property it sits on belong to Community Medical Centers, which bought it from the McCaffrey family with plans for future development.

Community officials who learned of the graffiti on Friday said they will fix it.

“As we would when any Community Medical Centers’ property damage occurs, we are working as fast as possible to restore the paint on the Flag Barn,” said Michelle Von Tersch, vice president of communications and public affairs.

By early Friday afternoon, the graffiti had been repainted by a fresh coat of red and white stripes. Several people, who saw news coverage of the graffiti, helped repaint the barn. One of those was Larry Llanes, an Army veteran who served three tours of duty in Iraq.

Llanes said that by the time he got there two other people, who he only knew as Donna and Scott, had nearly finished the repainting. He helped touched up a few spots and helped clean up empty spray paint cans and empty beer bottles.

"When I saw what happened it was sickening," Llanes said. "That barn is iconic and it is something that we need to do to preserve it."

This story was originally published April 27, 2018 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Iconic flag barn in Madera County tagged with graffiti."