As the holiday season is upon us and the New Year approaches, we decided to take a moment to reflect on the events of 2015. This last year has seen it’s share of good times (the 50th anniversary of the Canadian flag), great times (Pride across Canada was blast!), and certainly controversial times (ahem, Confederate flag anyone?).
So without further ado, The Flag Shop 2015 Year in Review:
January
- Clockwise from top-left: The Flag Shop New Brunswick hiding behind a snow drift; A snow day meant a hard day’s work for store manager Belinda’s kids in New Brunswick; Flags produced by the Make Club in Victoria.
The year started off snowy in New Brunswick. The blizzards out east were so bad, the store went into hiding. They made the best of things though, by having a lot of good, fun snow days! Meanwhile on the wet coast, creativity bloomed during a collaboration between The Makehouse and The Flag Shop Victoria.
February
- Clockwise, from top-left: Sales and marketing staff at head office pose in their pink attire; The Flag Shop Toronto pulls out the flag to show where they stand; The Flag Shop Victoria has a gorilla to protect against bullying; Le Flag Shop Montréal proudly displays the message in their window; The Flag shop Saskatoon shows their support for the cause; An anti-bullying flag flies at Winnipeg City Hall.
Valentine’s Day may be in February, but that’s not why things turned pink at The Flag Shop. With our Anti-Bullying movement, our stance against bullying took hold as we all showed support to stop bullying in our schools.
- Left to Right: President, Susan Braverman; The Flag Shop Calgary and Edmonton Owner, Phyllis Bright.
We also had the opportunity to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Flag. At fifty, our young flag still looks as beautiful as ever!
March
- Left to Right: Gordie Howe flag flies in Saskatoon; Roman Mars tells everyone how amazing flags are (still from www.youtube.com); The Flag Shop London makes some great flags to support Epilepsy Awareness Month
As we moved into the spring, some great stuff happened. The Flag Shop Saskatoon made flags to honour the great Gordie Howe. Roman Mars gave a Ted Talk that got everyone talking about flags. Meanwhile, The Flag Shop London was busy making flags for the Epilepsy Support Centre.
April
- Left to right: The Flag Shop Winnipeg cheers on the Jets; the flag of Vancouver Island soars to new heights and new proportions (photo from the Times Colonist); Greenpeace Canada shows off their flag.
The Flag Shop in Winnipeg cheered on the Jets, while in Victoria the Vancouver Island flag was made bigger than ever before. In Vancouver, Greenpeace Canada launched a new flag design.
May
May was a pretty quiet month as we prepared for the summer.
June
Then things got serious, in June we halted the sale of the Confederate flag. It was a big moment for the company, as we had to all come together and do what we thought was best. You can read more about that decision here.
July
- Left to Right: World Cup banner on display at the Head Office / The Flag Shop Vancouver location; The Flag Shop Chilliwack puts out a fun display of FIFA merchandise.
Come July, we were glad to turn our attention to an International flag debate as New Zealand held a
flag referendum. We also had the opportunity to cheer on the Canadian Women’s team at the World Cup!
August
- Clockwise from top-left: The Flag Shop Vancouver at the Vancouver Pride Festival; The Flag Shop Victoria and their giant Rainbow flag marching at Victoria Pride; The making of The Flag Shop Victoria Pride flag; The Flag Shop Victoria having fun making a giant rainbow flag; One of our first sewn Canada Pride flags; The Flag Shop Saskatoon at a pride event; (centre) Sarah the Wonder dog relaxing in her Pride scarf at The Flag Shop Edmonton.
For our yearly review, we put this one in August, but really The Flag Shops across the country are involved with Pride all year long! To see a more in-depth review on some of this year’s Pride involvement click here.
- Clockwise, from top-left: Toothpick flags made for the occasion; Front and back of toothpick flags; Jack and Doreen Braverman after 50 years of marriage; Jack and Doreen Braverman’s wedding portrait.
In anniversary news, our founder, Doreen Braverman, and her husband Jack celebrated fifty years of marriage this year with their family and friends.
- Left to right: Whitecaps Banners on the Georgia Viaduct; SFU 50th Anniversary on the Dunsmuir Viaduct; Brand New Whitecaps Banners on the Cambie Street Bridge; PNE Banners on the Granville Street Bridge; More SFU Banners on the Burrard Street Bridge.
Also in Vancouver, we celebrated what we called ‘Total Bridge Domination‘ when banners made right here in our production facility were on every major thoroughfare leading into downtown Vancouver.
September
- Clockwise, from top-left: A bird became stuck in the Head Office; Corporate staff attempt to catch (and free) the bird; banners go up at UBC and at SFU; Vancouver Opera and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra banners are installed in Vancouver.
September, in Vancouver at least, saw a lot of sunny skies and a little bit of excitement. Banners from our production facility went up all over the city and we also ended up with a wild bird as a pet for the day in our head office!
October
- Clockwise, from top-left: Decoda Literacy Flags were flown all over British Columbia; Kooza banners go up in Vancouver; A line of Blue Jays flags ready for sale at The Flag Shop Saskatoon; Michael B. went as all of the Avengers; A nice car flag in New Brunswick; Rebecca L. asks if you want to build a stick flag?
In October, the Blue Jays made a run for the World Series! It was also Co-op Week in Canada and Decoda’s Literacy Month. Cirque de Soleil’s Kooza came back to Vancouver and jealous of their amazing costumes, some of the head office staff dressed up for Halloween.
November
- Clockwise, from top-left: Two children walk the path at the George Derby Centre; The flags of the Camp Hill Memorial in Nova Scotia; The flag parade during the Victory Square Ceremony in Vancouver.
A great deal of November was dedicated to Remembrance Day. Nova Scotia showed that they have some of the most beautiful memorials. In Vancouver, we once again produced flags for the George Derby Pledge-A-Flag campaign and the Victory Square Remembrance Day Ceremony was as busy as ever.
- A Transgender flag flies in Winnipeg for Transgender Day of Remembrance (photo from cbc.ca); A photoshoot for our new transgender flag in Vancouver.
We also produced our first full line of Transgender flag products, many of which were used at Transgender Day of Remembrance events across the country.
- Left to Right: Greetings from Winnipeg, host of the 2015 Grey Cup; The Flag Shop Ottawa stands dejected after a lost bet with The Flag Shop Edmonton.
There was time for a little fun though. As the Grey Cup approached, The Flag Shops in Edmonton and Ottawa made a friendly wager. The losing team’s shop had to post a selfie with the winning team’s flag. Well we all know how that turned out…poor Alan.
December
- Left to Right: An around the world theme for a Santa Claus parade in Fredericton, NB; The Flag Shop Saskatoon did an informative series on the flags of ‘Christmas.’
Finally the holidays are upon us and the year is ending. Things took a decidedly global turn as the Santa Claus parade in New Brunswick had a theme of ‘Around the World.’ Meanwhile, The Flag Shop Saskatoon has been posting a very informative series all about the flags of Christmas.
That brings an end to our trip down memory lane. We hope that your 2015 was as eventful and rewarding as ours was and we wish you nothing but the best in 2016!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
– The Flag Shop
- Actually, The Flag Shop New Brunswick is going to save all their wishes so that it will stop snowing…
