New flags with anti-tangle mounting hardware have been installed on Water Street in Augusta. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel
AUGUSTA -- Downtown merchants and other donors who wanted to ensure the downtown of Maine's capital city flew American flags with pride and without tangles have ramped up the quality and quantity of flags flying on light poles, which city workers put up just in time for Memorial Day.
The Augusta Downtown Alliance recently gave 60 flags, complete with wooden poles, mounts and devices designed to decrease or prevent the frequency the flags from wrapping themselves around light poles. Donors, including many downtown merchants and residents, donated $10,000 to purchase the flags, which was more than enough to buy flags for each of the 54 light poles downtown, plus some spares.
Matt Pouliot, a former state senator who with his wife, Heather, owns Pouliot Real Estate on Water Street, spurred the effort after driving down Water Street and noticing many of the American flags the city put up were often wrapped around poles, and that some poles didn't have flags on them at all.
"It felt like a poor display of patriotism for the capital city of Maine," Pouliot said. "The old flags looked worn, which isn't appropriate by flag etiquette standards, and they often stayed wrapped around the poles."
The new flags have spinners -- metal loops with ball bearings in them which go around the poles and hold the flag -- meant to prevent the flags from wrapping or tangling.
"So as the flag blows around, it doesn't wrap around, it just waves," said Jeremy Ashlock, executive director of the Augusta Downtown Alliance.
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Ashlock said the funds were raised in only two weeks.
While the initial goal was also to ensure the American flags downtown were made in America, it turned out the flags the city had put up annually downtown already were made domestically, although by a different manufacturer.
Earl Kingsbury, community services director, said the city generally replaces the flags, which cost about $25 apiece, every other year because they wear out. The flags bought and donated by the Downtown Alliance are of much better quality, with embroidered, not printed, stars, and are made of durable nylon fabric with reinforced hand stitching.
Ashlock said donors said it was important to them that the flags be made in America, and they were willing to spend more for the flags to ensure they were of high quality.
The American flags installed on Water Street in Augusta were bought by the Augusta Downtown Alliance with funds donated by local merchants and residents. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel
"Private donors decided that the tradeoff of higher prices for the product they were helping to contribute toward was worth that higher price," Ashlock said. "A great thing about our organization is that we can rally the community to think beyond fiscal prudence, and when folks find it a valuable trade off, they can help to pay for that extra level of quality that they want to see. Members of our community feel that American flags hanging in the capital city of our state should support American jobs and American industry.
"Our community and our organization is all about supporting local, and hosting American-made flags is a very simple but clear signal that we practice what we preach."
Because of a bulk rate available from the manufacturer, the organization was able to purchase 60 flags for $8,160. The remaining proceeds from the fundraiser will be used by the Augusta Downtown Alliance to continue its efforts to support community causes and events in the future.
City councilors voted unanimously to accept the donation of flags at their May 15 meeting.
The flag manufacturer, Allegiance Flag Supply, states on its website the flags are made entirely of materials sourced in the United States and are sewn at its plant in Charleston, South Carolina. It further states accessories it sells with some of the flags are also made in the United States, with poles made in Ohio, brackets in Pennsylvania, and spinners made in Utah.
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