Before the parades, the picnics and the fireworks begin, a telltale sign of Fourth of July in Leelanau County are the flags flying aloft Deering Tree Service’s green crane truck and bucket truck on the busy corner of M-72 and Maple City Road. The Deering brothers who co-own the company—Josh, 43, Jack, 39, and Patrick, 34—have flown the Stars and Stripes 80 feet in the air each Independence Day ever since they moved to that intersection in 2012. Deering Tree Service, which turns 50 years old in 2023, has nearly 50 employees, and whoever drives the crane truck on that day is responsible for raising the flag.