The 12 participants who are part of Estevan Diversified Services’ (EDS) woodworking program are showing their patriotism through a unique Canada 150 project.
They have been crafting large Canadian flags out of wood. The flags are painted in red and white, and the number 150 appears in one of the corners.
Garnet Hall, who is the production manager at EDS, and Roberta Gustafson, who is one of their employees, came up with the idea for the flags, and shared it with the woodworking participants.
“We have been doing seasonal things for Christmas and Halloween, and it was just another project we can do,” said Hall.
Hall came up with the basic design of the flag. They looked at a few different options before settling with this one.
Initially the flags were made using broken but salvaged lath wood, which allowed them to reuse some material that would have otherwise been thrown away.
“Our main business here has been making surveying laths,” said Hall. “But because of the downturn in the oil industry, we have been looking for other projects.
“So whenever we make lath, we have a lot of broken lath, which typically go out to the landfill. We’ve been using them for these seasonal kinds of projects, and we use them for the flags, too. So they’re two-foot pieces of survey laths, and put into a flag.”
When they started to run out of salvaged lath, they switched to salvaged plywood, but they also ran into a shortage of that material, so now they’re purchasing plywood.
They’re also using recycled red and white paint. They have enough recycled paint to get through the project, because people drop off their paint at the SARCAN depot.
The use of recycled materials has allowed the project to have an environmental benefit, he said.
The flags have proven to be a hit with the community. As of Tuesday afternoon, Hall said they had made about 100 already, and he is starting to see them across the city.
“We were hoping that people would want to have some kind of celebration of Canada’s 150th,” said Hall. “We didn’t know if they would choose this project.”
Gustafson noted they received an order to make 17 of the flags.
The first flag was finished about four to six weeks ago. The demand has been escalating recently, as people see the flags around the city and think they are pretty impressive.
Those who have purchased a flag are pretty happy, he said.
They also made a large flag that is currently hanging on the outside wall of their activity shop. Hall said they hoped the large flag would be of interest to businesses. They have yet to sell any of those large flags, but they do believe somebody will purchase one.
The small flags cost $20, while the large flag is $150.
Hall and Gustafson are pleased to see the flags are popping up around the city, but they stressed it’s also a thrill for the participants to see the flags.
“There’s something that everyone can do in that project, which makes it really good for here,” said Hall. “We have guys who can cut the lath, guys who can paint the lath.”
“The guys are really proud when they see them,” added Gustafson. “They point them out where they may have seen them here and there. They’ll see a fence and say ‘There’s our flag!’”
Hall expects they will continue to make the flags as long as there is a demand for them. He predicted it will taper off after Canada celebrates its 150th birthday on July 1, but he also wouldn’t be surprised if it continues into the summer.
“I didn’t think we would sell this many,” said Gustafson.
Gustafson noted that people have told her the flags are a bargain at $20 each, and they would have been willing to pay more.
But Hall said EDS wants projects that can involve all of their participants, and keep them busy. If they charge too much, they might not sell as many flags.
