For the love of Branson: ‘Oh, say, can you see’

When I graduated with my Master’s Degree in History Education, I did my final thesis on the War of 1812. If you know anything about my heritage, you will realize that the Scots Irish Tennesseans that essentially won that war for our young country gave us many of the cultural symbols we still use today as America is turning 250 years old. One of those being the “Star Spangled Banner!”

As Francis Scott Key looked upon the early American flag from that harbor, the pride he felt inspired so much of what it means to be a patriot in the modern world. This story, acting as the foundation of the American mythos, helps explain why I think flags are so important. But here’s the thing, our little town of Branson never had one.

Well, I take that back. We did have a white banner with the black script Branson logo on it. But as I have said many times over the years, “why would we want a surrender flag?” So, since Hollister didn’t accept our unconditional surrender, we live to see another day!

But all jokes aside, it was about time that Branson had a proper flag of its own. So, in the last year of my alderman tenure, I set out to give us one. My original concept was to take the design that’s known as the French Tricolor which serves as the background of the Missouri flag, and place the Branson logo in the center of it instead of our State Seal. I gave the design a shot, but I’m not a graphic artist by trade. Nevertheless, I sent my concept to Heather Hermen at the Chamber, and she had their creative director Duane Stout give it a shot.

What he came up with was a beautiful red, white and blue Branson flag with a patriotic version of the city’s logo in the center and what I call the Avenue of Stars as an end stripe on the left side of the flag. Now, the Avenue of Stars features five white stars, and there is a special red star underneath our logo. As a city, when we designated the flag in an official proclamation, we didn’t specify who the six stars represented. In fact, I think it’s fun to let the citizens of Branson each have their own concept of who they should be.

However, I’m willing to share my conceptualization with you now. To me, the five stars in the “Avenue” should represent the iconic musicians who began to call Branson home in the ‘90s. Namely, my granddaddy Mel Tillis, Andy Williams, Shoji Tabuchi, Roy Clark and Mickey Gilley, with the red star in the center of the flag being the patriotic star in honor of Tony Orlando and everything he has done for veterans here in our community.

Regardless of what the symbols on our flag mean to you, it’s heartening to know that this flag belongs to US. And as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday this summer, we can show the whole world that Branson stands proudly for the symbols of faith, family and a brand new flag!