Customer Testimonial: American Legion Post VT 35
Published on
July 18, 2024 at 11:51:33 AM PDT July 18, 2024 at 11:51:33 AM PDTth, July 18, 2024 at 11:51:33 AM PDT
At Carrot-Top, we understand the significance of the American flag in honoring the brave heroes who serve our country. We aim to help communities nationwide commemorate our veterans and active-duty military by supplying the highest-quality American flags and patriotic products.
We recently had the privilege of speaking with Charles J. Guyette, the commander of American Legion Post VT 0035. Carrot-Top is proud of its role in helping create the Veterans’ Memorial in Jeffersonville, Vermont.
This new project began on Veterans Day 2023 with the display of around 50 flags and has since grown. The memorial is displayed a few times a year during patriotic holidays like Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and the 4th of July.
During the 4th of July in 2024, American Legion Post 0035 displayed 98 American flags. Community members could pay $120 to dedicate one of the flags to a loved one who served our country. Attached to each flag is a card with the name of the veteran and the sponsor.
After receiving widespread community support, the post hopes to get sponsors for an additional 52 flags. Their goal is to display up to 140 flags in honor of Veterans Day.
Learn how Carrot-Top was able to help them execute their vision!
Those who wish to create a similar display in their town can purchase our all-inclusive 9' spinning flagpole kit. This flagpole kit comes with a 3' x 5' nylon U.S. flag, a 9' spinning flagpole, and easy-to-install hardware. Included components make displaying your patriotism simple. Shop now or contact us to learn how our products can help you display American pride today!
Interview with Charles J. Guyette, Commander of American Legion Post VT 35
Carrot-Top: How did you come up with the idea to do the memorial with 98 flags?
Charles J. Guyette: Probably a year ago, David Jescavage, the administrative officer for the town of Cambridge, came looking for somebody to start up this project. Swanton, Vermont...they have a very similar thing. They have maybe a hundred flags in Swanton, Vermont. They also get all of their flags from Carrot-Top. He's the one that recommended starting something here and recommended Carrot-Top. I brought it up to our post and we decided that we were going to do 40 flags, hoping we would sell all 40.
We put it out to the community to have the flags sponsored. It covers putting a card on the flag with a veteran and who sponsored it. The flags are placed out there for Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the 4th of July, and they stay in the town hall of Cambridge when they're not being used.
We ended up getting a bunch of extra requests and we actually had more sponsors than we had flags, so we ordered another 14. We had 54, I believe. We got even more people reaching out. They saw the flags out in the large field that used to be a lumber yard that has since closed. The village of Jeffersonville took it over, and it's just green space. Route 15, which runs through here, is the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, so it's named after the veterans' group from the Civil War.
The town of Cambridge has one of the only Grand Army of the Republic monuments in town, so it's sort of fitting that we have that military history and the close ties to the community with that monument in Cambridge.
So, we put out the 52 flags and got a ton of responses. Our American Legion post also worked on rehabbing World War I and World War II monuments that we have in Jeffersonville. We raised money to clean it and to patch it and fix it up for the 100th anniversary of the dedication to the town. 1923, it was dedicated to the town. We had the flags in the silo area. We dedicated the monument to the town and had more good publicity for our post.
After that, we kept getting requests for more sponsors. We ended up getting 98 flags sponsored for the 4th of July. That's when we reached out to you guys and got an additional 42. So, we have a total of 140 flags. 42 that are not sponsored that are still waiting to go out in that field. 140 will give us a giant presentation and a good layout with the amount of space that we have.
Carrot-Top: Why did your post choose to work with Carrot-Top?
Guyette: Value: all the flags are made in the US. We weren't getting rip-off Chinese flags. The poles that you guys recommended swivel so they wouldn't get caught up and blown down. Good quality and American company.
Carrot-Top: How was Carrot-Top able to help you execute your vision?
Guyette: Yeah, you guys did a great job with getting a quote and getting timely service back. I reached out and talked to Wanda and she's the one that got me in touch with you and the sales manager. I talked to her probably three times, and she remembered me. It was cool that a woman that I had talked to twice remembered me. Wanda was great, and the sales manager was great. He got me back in touch with Wanda and made it so it was really seamless and really easy to work with. And you know, the product's great. And the reception, or how everything is viewed with all those flags out there with the mountain in the back...it just looks awesome.
Carrot-Top: What kind of response did you get from the community?
Guyette: People were very excited to see us out there putting the flags out. Right on Route 15, the highway that runs by, we had people waving, honking their horns, yelling out to us. Just happy to see patriotism out there and Old Glory out in that field looking good. So it was pretty good. We've had non-stop requests to sponsor more flags. That's why the project kept getting even larger. We had the local news media come out and talk to the vice commander for the post.
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