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Photo by Ray Pettengell Though sales aren't flagging, Don and Sharon Pfaff, owners of The Flag Department in Central Point, say Flag Day is overshadowed by Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. It's always Flag Day here Holiday gets attention at Central Point's Flag Department By DAVID PRESZLER CENTRAL POINT -- Today is the second -- and most overlooked -- of the big three holidays that spur sales of the American flag. Logic may imply that Flag Day be the day for flag sales but Don and Sharon Pfaff say the busy season actually began before Memorial Day and will continue through Fourth of July. "People kind of start getting ready in May," says Sharon Pfaff. The longtime Central Point couple would know. They own and operate The Flag Department, a Pine Street shop devoted to decorative flags. Don Pfaff estimates that the store has a couple dozen American flag items -- from red, white and blue windsocks shaped like Uncle Sam's top hat to traditional versions of the stars and stripes in a variety of sizes. The store's smallest U.S. flags -- postage stamp-sized ones attached to toothpicks -- start at a nickel; the largest in stock (an 8-foot-by-12-foot polyester flag) runs $175. The store also carries a variety of international flags, state flags and other decorative flags and banners as well as a selection of gift items. Though sales do surge in the early summer months, the Pfaffs say business is steadier that you might think. And, like all retailers, the Christmas holiday season is still the crucial stretch. The Memorial Day-Flag Day-Fourth of July period is also busy, and the Pfaffs say sales have been brisk. But they didn't note any big jump last week as Flag Day approached. Flag Day may have the most direct connection to the American flag -- June 14 is the date on which Congress adopted the flag in 1777-- but it takes a back seat to the more widely celebrated Memorial Day and Fourth of July holidays. How much of a back seat? When a customer came into buy a flag last week, the Pfaffs asked if the couple planned to fly it today. The answer: Not really, but now that you mention it ... "They were really preparing for Fourth of July," Don Pfaff says. Before they launched the flag business, the Pfaffs, both 55 years old, say they had a similar approach to the holiday: They knew about it but didn't go very far of out their way to celebrate it. And opening a flag shop wasn't any longheld dream either. In fact for 23 years, they ran Pfaff Wholesale -- a fishing tackle shop -- in the space at 26 E. Pine Street now devoted to The Flag Department. Looking for a change a few years ago, they considered a number of other businesses but couldn't find one they were really excited about. The flag idea surfaced on trips back east to visit their daughter in New Jersey, where they kept seeing thriving flag shops. Still unsure, they began to sell a few flags at the fishing shop, establishing a "flag department" to go with the lure, reel and line departments of the fishing shop. The flags kept selling and the flag department kept growing. "Then we eliminated the other departments and now we just have the flag department," Sharon Pfaff says. The fishing tackle was liquidated three years ago and flag sales have grown each year since. The American flag is by far the top seller, though the Pfaffs say they also sell a lot of U.S. Marine Corps flags and a fair number of other military and state flags. As for the flags of other nations, Mexico's is far and away the top seller, though the flags of Canada, Ireland, Italy and Germany are also popular. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA