A Houghton County community is boosting town pride and calling on its residents and neighbors to help do so with a public designing contest.
Franklin Township will be selecting a design for its official township flag this summer and is currently accepting contest entries.
Inside the township offices are both the United States flag and Michigan State flag and, by the end of summer, there will be one more flag pole proudly displayed here amongst them.
“The Michigan Townships Association, every year, has a retreat. People all around the state come together at this retreat and one of the things they do is they all present their township flags. Well, we don’t have a flag,” said Franklin Township Supervisor Mary Sears.
“Franklin Township is holding a ‘Help Us Make Our Flag’ contest,” said Sears.
The deadline for entries is August 15th. A winning design will be chosen on August 18th at a public event that will be held at the township office where residents will have voted on a design.
“So our residents will be coming in from 12:00pm to 3:00pm and they’ll all be voting on the flags, and we’ll have a cake, and everyone’s welcome to attend. The first prize is $500, the second prize is $300, and the third prize is $100,” Sears added.
Sears says the contest was made possible by many donations from area businesses. “And we should have enough money left over to produce our very first flag.”
Eligible entries must include:
Franklin Township, Houghton County, and the date of Establishment, 1863.
“It should be simple colors and simple symbols–what our township means to you,” said Sears.
Complete contest rules are available at the township offices or online.
Sears said, “We have application forms which you can get here at the township or you can download them at our website which is www.franklintownship.webs.com.”