Flags and festivals are now synonymous with each other. Even the most casual of music fans can’t help but get drawn in by the hundreds of flapping bits of fabric adorning your television screen during BBC’s Glastonbury coverage.
Contents
- Where and how to get a custom flag printed on a budget
- How to design a bespoke flag for free
- The best telescopic flagpole to bring to a festival
- Best Festival Flag Pole
- How to secure your flagpole into the ground for stability
- Other things to consider when creating your festival flag
- Conclusion: Flagpoles and flags at festivals
They’re great waymarkers and landmarks, not only for you and your mates, but people around you will start to use YOUR flag as a waymarker too. Trying to find someone in a crowd is hard work, but looking for a very specific flag is much easier.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, fags are now a mainstay at festivals like Glastonbury. Some festivals do not allow flag poles in the arena but they do allow them in campsites. That means your flag can also help you find your way back through a sea of tents!
From inside jokes, hilarious images and political messages, you’ll see flags of all shapes and sizes so why not join in by creating your own?
This article will show you:
- Where and how to get a custom flag printed on a budget
- How to design a bespoke flag for free
- The best telescopic flagpole to bring to a festival
- How to secure your flagpole into the ground for stability
- Other things to look out for when creating your festival flag
Where and how to get a custom flag printed on a budget
Fortunately, these days you don’t have to be a graphic design expert or computer genius to design a simple graphic like a flag. A lot of services now allow you to upload your own images to create great designs like on Canva.
Once you’ve found or made your design send it over to Anley double sided flags where it can be printed using a variety of different options to suit your needs. They have size options up to 5ft x 8ft (that’s frigging huge!) and a free design service who will transfer your draft to the flag so the image and any writing appears correct on both sides.
Important: Image Resolution and Printing
You need to use high resolution images, text and graphics for your printed flag. Otherwise, it will look terrible.
If possible, design your flag as a SVG (if you don’t know what that is, it’s a Scalable Vector Graphic that can be made infinitely large without pixelation), but that may not be possible if you want to use a rasterized image (e.g. photograph or meme)
If you’re using photographs, they must have a resolution of 300dpi (dots per inch) if you want them to look good. This is really important. Photos and crappy memes downloaded from Facebook cannot be scaled up very much!
How to design a bespoke flag for free
You can do this by using Canva’s Free Custom Flag Maker, you can pick a template of a ready designed flag and make it your own by changing the colours or adding extra designs from their gallery of resources.
Or you could go all out and create a custom flag using your own images and fonts by uploading them directly to Canva’s flag maker.
Once you’re done you can download high quality image files perfect to be printed through a service like Anley double sided flags! Who have size options up to 5ft x 8ft!!
The best telescopic flagpole to bring to a festival
Festivology manufactures the below flagpoles to all the same specifications and standards:
- Manufactured from fiberglass for flexible strength
- Metal collars on the end of each fiberglass section to provide increased strength to the pole when extended
- 110 cm long when not extended.
- Lightweight for their size and easier to manage than some of the bulkier flag poles out there.
We’ve listed 3 sizes because size matters.
But remember to check with the festival organiser if flags are accepted or if there are any limits due to dangers like power lines and overhead services like lights. The Festivology 4 meter telescopic flag pole is a good starting point.
Best Festival Flag Pole
A fully telescoping flag pole that’s designed for festivals
Telescopic Flag Pole 4m
- Flexible fibreglass material
- 110cm non-expanded length
- Lightweight and easy to carry
- Has loops to add a fabric or canvas flag
This is also available in a 6 meter version and a 7-meter version
Festivology 7 meter telescopic flag pole
How to Attach your Flag to a Telescopic Flagpole
The flag or pole you’ve chosen will have an impact on how it can be secured.
The Festivology poles we’ve listed have a small loop in the top section allowing a windsock to be attached rather than a full size flag as this may break it.
It’s best to attach the flag on the second from top section, this will help prevent the pole from being damaged or bent over too far.
If your flag has reinforced eyelets you can secure it with flag bungees, but your flag may rip without metal eyelets.
Put the bungee end through the eyelet, around the pole and loop over the end with the ball attached. It’s best to do this a few times to make sure the flag is secure.
You can just simply tie it to the pole with rope/string but we recommend using tape to help hold it on just in case.
How to secure your flagpole into the ground for stability
Flagpoles will need a flag pole stake to secure them to the ground, you may need to get more than one depending on the height of the pole.
They slide up into the pole until tight then are pushed into the ground. Some poles may have a cap on the bottom that needs to be removed first.
Remember the weather – especially… wind!
If the wind picks up, take it down, most fibreglass flagpoles are very flexible and if they don’t break, they can whip about. A flag pole is similar to a tent pole in how it acts in the wind.
Other things to consider when creating your festival flag
Give it some sparkle!!
Want to light up the night when your chosen flag is harder to see? Pick up some led battery powered string lights wrap them around the pole, remember that it collapses so don’t get all caught up.
Secure the lights with strong tape. (you can’t go wrong with some strong tape in most situations check out DuckTape they have different colours too!
Conclusion: Flagpoles and flags at festivals
So flags at music festivals, they’re a bit like marmite, people love ’em or hate ’em.
They add an extra layer of excitement and make it easy to spot your squad in a sea of people. Plus, it’s a cool way to show some personality and represent where you’re from or what you’re into.
Flags are beneficial because they can help you find your way through a crowd, but they’re equally annoying when you can’t see the stage through a sea of flags.
But, let’s not forget about being environmentally conscious. After the festival, make sure you dispose of your flag properly. And, remember to be respectful of other people’s flags and what they may represent.
In short, flags at festivals can be a blast, but let’s use them responsibly and with consideration for others.
