Supply chain casualty — U.S. flags for Cape County's Avenue of Flags

It's difficult to put a price on freedom, but one of its symbols is costing significantly more these days.

According to David Cantrell, chairman of Cape Girardeau's Avenue of Flags, U.S. flags of the sort flying several times a year at the memorial site cost about 40% more than they did six months ago -- and that's if they're available at all.

"It's gotten down to the flag level, the supply issues," he said with a laugh.

Cantrell said the all-weather flags deployed at the site normally cost about $55. About six months ago, prices started increasing, rising to the current $89 per flag. With the rising cost has come an extended lead time to order flags -- currently at about six weeks. And so, there won't be any new flags dedicated on Veterans Day this year. Cantrell said he hopes by Memorial Day flags will be available at a reasonable cost.

"Even if we have to go the $89 route, we still have three months, four months, before we have to order them," he said.

The chairman said raising prices for the memorial flags will be a last resort.

"For the money we collect to pay for the flag pole and everything, we couldn't cover" the $89 flag cost. "I don't want to raise the price of them until I'm forced to."

More than 800 flags commemorate Cape Girardeau County veterans at the site at Cape County Park North. Each flag honors a veteran who died serving the country or afterward.

Pete Poe of River City Flags in Cape Girardeau, which supplies flags for Avenue of Flags, said flag production has slowed to a crawl.

"Our industry is not immune to the craziness that is going on," he noted. "The supply chain issues definitely hit us. It's a labor situation first; a materials situation second."

Poe said the industry consists of a handful of major manufacturers, and most of them have shut down lines for lack of workers or supplies.

"It has slowly escalated in the last five to six months," he said. "It will take that much longer before supplies get built back up."

New flags or not, the Avenue of Flags will honor veterans this week, Cantrell pledged.

"We may not get the flags up Thursday morning because of the weather. We are hoping to get them up in the afternoon. Then, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, they will look really good."