One homegrown Shawnee business is well-known for its patriotic flair.
This year, Harold and Lois Vaille are celebrating their 20th year of operating Flagsource Unlimited, a business whose name says it all: they offer anything and everything associated with flags. Fourth of July may be just a day away, but the Vailles ensure that patriotism continues year-round.
"Our motto, you might say, is ‘Be proud to be an American: Fly your flag,'" Lois said.
The couple formerly earned a living renovating townhomes and made the career change after visiting some friends in St. Louis who operated a flag business.
"They said ‘Why don't you get into the flag business? Be patriotic,'" Lois said.
Since the couple had been patriotic anyway and always had their own flag flying at their home, they decided to take the suggestion to heart. They started the business shortly after moving to Shawnee, but started slowly -- on a shoestring, as Lois says -- They only got out of the remodeling business after several years of building the flag business.
Operating the business from home, the couple had to be careful not to get too big to keep the traffic flow of customers low. But there also was never a need to do much advertising to stay in business.
"Word of mouth was always the best advertising; people would take our cards and pass them along," Lois said.
Flagsource offers just about any kind of flag imaginable, including different country and state flags, seasonal flags, military flags, college and sports flags and banners, and creating flags with corporate logos. They even offer the different versions of the U.S. flag, with different numbers of stars.
"The flag doesn't just hang there, it has to be maintained, and so does the flag pole," she said.
They also offer flag poles of all kinds, flag boxes and flag-hanging services.
"We have helped people solve many problems with their flags and how they fly them," Lois said.
Lois said the business still does a lot of flag repair, though at some point, flags are beyond repair, at which point they should be turned over to the Boy Scouts or Veterans of Foreign Wars for disposal.
"We've always been proud of taking down the bad flags that are tattered and putting up the new flags," Lois said. "We as Americans should keep our flags in as good a condition as possible."
Flags can be a cheaper nylon or a more expensive polyester two-ply, which often isn't found in hardware stores or big box stores. The polyester also is known as a storm flag because it can stand up to high winds better. All of Flagsource's US, Foreign, State, Armed Forces, Religious, and Marine flags are made in America.
Flags come in all shapes and sizes; the largest the Vailles can order is 30-foot by 60-foot. They used to repair those large flags themselves, but now they send that work to other companies.
"We gave it up several years ago because it was so hard to repair," Lois said. "It was a back-breaker."
The couple also maintains flags for a local restaurant chain, management companies and four school districts.