This past Labour Day long weekend marked the end of the Rotary Club's Canadian Flag Fundraiser. The Rotary Club of High River hand made flag poles, and for a fee of $50 would come to your address and install the flag pole hanging a Canadian Flag on your front lawn for three long weekends between May and September. Rotary Club President Elect Damian Boyle says he and his group were unsure at the beginning but the fundraiser far exceeded their expectations. "To be perfectly honest, we were a little bit wary of the whole project because we weren't sure how it would be received in the community." Boyle says "What surprised us was how quickly people in the community embraced it! What was happening is, as we were putting flags in people were coming out of their houses to buy more flags." The club actually ran out of Flag poles over the May long weekend, and were becoming leery about selling too many flags as the poles are hand made and welded by one of their members. Boyle called it a business man's worst nightmare, and dream at the same time. Thankfully, Boyle says they'll be ready for next year and they're even considering some improvements and changes! "Well now we have an idea of how well people receive the project, and when we pulled the flags out yesterday, for the last time this year, people were coming out of their houses now to tell us how happy they were to have the flag, and how sorry they were to see it removed" Boyle says there's a tremendous amount of patriotism in High River, and this program will give residents a way to express it while supporting initiatives in the community. "As we expand this project next year, we'll advertise it better and we'll grow it into other parts of the town, where people will see the flags pop up and it can only grow exponentially." According to Boyle, the club is now looking at how they can serve businesses down town where the pavement and sidewalk prohibits putting a stake into the ground. Some businesses have suggested they could buy a flag and line the roads coming in and out of High River instead. Boyle believes they raised about $2500 after taking away the upfront ordering and material costs. The two communities to have the most flags were Riverside with 27 flags and Highview with 25.
There's currently an early bird special for those looking to pre order their flags for next spring where $45 will buy you your very own Canadian flag for the 2020 May long weekend, Canada Day long weekend and Labour day weekend. To sign up you can visit their website, call 587-208-6991 or email rotaryhighriver@gmail.com.
Boyle also says to keep an eye out in the months ahead as the Rotary Club will be hosting a second paper shredding fundraiser near the end of September followed by their lip-sync battle fundraiser in November.