The Story of the Flags

After weather, wind and nearly 25 years of age on our flag poles, our flags and poles had seen some better days.  That is why our flags have been down for the last couple of years.  This year though, with our celebration of 40 years in business, the flags are back!

It all started after a couple of our flag poles were found to have some structural integrity issues due to 25 year old bolts nearing the end of their life.  That is when we decided it was time for an overhaul.  Rope had been worn through on many of the poles and paint chipped. 

This meant more than the usual raise and lowering of just the flags as is usually done at the beginning of each season in the Spring.  To put it in perspective is best demonstrated by the numbers -

• 2 - The average life space of each flag is two years given heavy winds and weather on top of the building
• 3 - The number of men to work on taking down, repainting, re-roping, remounting the poles, and raising the flags for the season.
• 15 - The number of flags and flagpoles we have.
• 21 - The number of man hours spent on this project.  
• 150 - The average weight of each flag pole is 150 pounds.  They are made from galvanized steel.  
• 700 - The amount in feet of rope used in re-roping the poles.

So is all of this worth it?  The flags have been a longstanding tradition for the store dating back to 1998.  At the time, owner Wesley Crum, decided that with a recent expansion of the store he wanted something to make the store look bigger and attract attention.

When asked for a recommendation of where to get some flagpoles to mount on the roof, the gentleman doing signs for the store at the time had an idea.  He knew of some poles out of Greensboro and offered to pick them up and deliver them.  Not knowing the size or scope of the poles, he drove his personal van off the mountain to pick them up and bring them back to the store.

How he managed to fit nearly 2,000 pounds of steel poles in the back of his van, we do not know.  But, after many years in service on the roof of the Club Shop, we hope to keep the tradition up for years to come.