Banners in Wauchula, Florida Celebrate the City’s Sandhill Crane Heritage

     The Kalamazoo Banner Works division of Consort was pleased to be asked by the Wauchula, Florida “Main Street Wauchula” (MSW) program to assist in designing and manufacturing their new street banners in mid-2010. Earlier this year, we received some wonderful installation photos showing the fun and somewhat whimsical banners up and greeting folks to this unique and historical town.
     Our KBW Florida dealer, Cynthia Roberts of Banner Works of Florida, was our main contact who handled all the details. And, our in-house Consort design staff fielded the design concepts and requests and came up with three versions showing a sandhill crane in action.
     Here’s a portion of what the local paper had to say in explanation of the designs:

     “When Main Street Wauchula’s Design Committee set a goal to get new banners for downtown, they decided they wanted banners that were unique to Wauchula and that would welcome visitors and educate them about Wauchula’s heritage. Wauchula’s name comes from a Miccosukee Indian word meaning ‘land of the sandhill crane.’ Appropriately, the sandhill crane would become a downtown icon and the focal point of the banners.”

     To carry the theme further, the MSW Design Committee states, “This year the committee has been working hard on the sandhill crane sculpture project. This project will place 2 life size sandhill cranes in the fountain located in the Heritage Park in downtown Wauchula.
     For all the planning and effort, MSW was given the Honor Award for “Outstanding Image Campaign or Promotional Material” at the Florida Main Street Conference last fall.

Congratulations to all involved!

Roger Lepley

Dori Pole Lake Home and Cottage Customers are Fun!

     The use of Dori Pole Pennants at lake homes and cottages is growing rapidly in North America. And, lake home and cottage owners are among our favorite customers because they almost always seem to be happy! The fact is, why not?! They’re communicating with us about a fun, unusual product (Dori Pole) for a fun place to be (their lake home)! So, when we have the opportunity we ask them how they found out about us or what prompted them to order a Dori Pole. And, if possible, we ask for a photo of the pole or poles in action.
     Here’s a great example of all that, from new “Dori Pole Friends” near Memphis, Tennessee:

     “We saw the Dori Poles around Clark Lake, Michigan while visiting there and fell in love with them! There was one on the dock of the cottage we rented and we were told it was there to scare off the geese, which really appealed to us, as we have a goose problem here on Walnut Grove Lake.”
     "Then, the next day during a boat ride, we saw lots of Dori Poles in all the different colors and we all decided we had to get them. So, when we got back to the cottage we did some serious Googling and found them on your web site. We each picked out the color we wanted and even contacted a couple of our friends back home and told them they needed to get one, to trust us, to pick out a color for them! Now we have 6 flags on the lake and they look so festive. The 7th will go on one of our neighborhood docks as soon as we have it refinished next week.” (MM, Cordova, TN)

     That's a wonderful story and as "MM" relates, there are two main reasons why Dori Poles are loved. One is the color and motion that happens with the slightest breeze, providing motion and a festive look. The other is the proven fact they the flowing pennants tend to deter geese and other nuisance birds from landing near them. Other reasons that customers give us for buying are that they help friends easily find their cottage on the lake. Also, one of my lake neighbors has four different colors of pennants that she chooses from to install depending on her mood or the seasons. We do the same thing with our three poles and on the 4th of July it’s red white and blue all the way. In fact, here’s a photo of our pontoon boat for our lake’s annual 4th of July pontoon parade. Lots of fun and lots of smiles!
Roger Lepley