Where's Marty? Celebrating Maryland Day with a local flag maker
Hi Everyone!
Today is Maryland Day.
It was on this date in 1634 that the state's first settlers arrived in what is now St. Mary's County, at St. Clement's Island.
And the rest is history.
There is no question that in 2024 our state flag wins the pop culture "best of" for and United States state flag more often than not. And here it is, and how the flag is to be presented, from the official Maryland Secretary of State web page.
It was the 2nd Baron Baltimore Cecil Calvert, the first proprietor of Maryland, who designed the flag.
He took his fathers family crest, the Calvert's gold and black, and combined it with his mothers family crest, the Crosslands red and white to make the state flag. (Note when displayed the Calvert crest is upper left on the flagpole with the small black square up. Or in the bigger statement of which crest is up,"Gold toward God.") On the MD Sec of State web page there is an entire section as to how to properly display the flag in every possible reverent circumstance.
But these days that grand old flag is displayed every which way and on every thing from socks to baby diapers and on and on.
It is considered cool beyond Calvert's dreams. And today we were at a Rosedale company, F.W. Haxel, that yearly sells thousands of flag poles, banners, and more. Many of which are the Maryland flag, second only to the Stars, and Stripes.
For 85+ years F. W. Haxel has been the "go to" place for flags and poles. They even, recently, installed the new flag pole in the Rose Garden at the White House. That looks pretty good on a resume!
Today, company President Justin Nemic, and 4th generation owner Noel Haxel, gave us all the info we could handle on our state banner. They do have a retail side to the business where you can get our flag is any size you need. Here is their website https://fwhaxel.com/
There is so much about this company to discuss. Like F.W. Haxel providing banners for the Convention Centers, and the downtowns of D.C., and Baltimore, plus all the banner work for University's, and more.
But today was all about the crests of the Calvert and Crossland families. And the pop culture phenom they, together, make. And we thank Haxel for being excellent hosts.
Marty B!