Creating Custom Hometown Heroes Banners for Your Community

Hometown Heroes Banners are made to represent special people, often including members of the Armed Forces, veterans, first responders, and others who have made significant contributions to a community. Here, we'll help you through the process of designing, installing, and maintaining Hometown Heroes banners throughout your town.

On this page you’ll find:

• Details about how to design Hometown Hero banners
• Tips for successful banners based on years of experience
• A step-by-step Hometown Heroes banner installation guide
• Suggestions for banner maintenance
• A gallery of Hometown Hero banners to use for inspiration

The Origin of Hometown Hero Banners

Communities across America have been creating masterpieces to put on their “main street.” It’s hard to know precisely the first town to create this movement, but the claim to "Hometown Hero fame" seems to belong to Harrisburg, PA who started their program almost 20 years ago . From there, it was off to the races, as many towns across the northeast followed suit. They began thinking about how to fill their streets with tributes to the men and women that served and even lost their lives for our country.

That’s where Gettysburg Flag Works Comes in. Our team has been helping local communities create high quality, eye-catching Hometown Hero banners for years!

Designing a Hometown Hero customized avenue banner is no longer a difficult process. We've created banners for different towns that you can see below. All you have to do is send in a picture, and one of our talented designers will be able to place it perfectly in your town's banner design. These example banners should give you an idea of the space you'll have to work with! And, here are a few tips to help guide you as you work on your Hometown Hero banner design:

Keep The Design Simple

Let’s face it. A banner won’t look good unless the picture is set up properly. That’s why we have design tips for creating the best Hometown Hero banner. For the sake of your hometown’s drivers, we recommend keeping it clean and simple, with large easy to read text and basic graphic layouts.

Use High Quality Images

High quality images of old photos can be difficult to find. We hope you can find a photo or take a new photo that is at least 300 dpi. If you have no idea what that even means, dpi stands for dots per inch. Check out the image for a visual of what that means. If you have an old photo we need a scanned copy submitted with your order - it doesn't have to be perfect, as we have a graphic artist in house that will help touch it up and add it to the banner layout so it looks perfect before we make it!

Get Close - But Not Too Close

Every once in a while we get a photo that barely has background space around the subject’s face. This is harder to work with because it ends up looking like this picture to the right. Use a photo that has more space around the person so it can fit nicely in the picture section of the banner.

Choose Color Over Black and White

Color photos tend to pop better when installed on the utility poles. If possible, we suggest using a color photo. With that said, people still send in black and white photos all the time because older veterans simply didn’t have access to color photography at the time.

We will always work with the best photo you can provide us! After all, it's better to feature a blurry, black and white photo that is too close than to have no banner at all.

Avoid Thieves and Road Hazards

Sometimes, people like these banners A little too much. If your community has this risk, here’s what you can do to keep your banners safe.

Install your banners higher than anybody can easily reach. If someone can reach your banner with an A-frame ladder, you run the risk of losing them to a man cave or she-shed somewhere! Ditto for trucks and other tall vehicles - try to mount the banners higher so they avoid the errant box truck smashing into the display.

Beware of Windy Areas

Another issue that comes up with these hero banners is placement in a high wind area. That’s why we’ve created optional wind slits (or mesh material) in the banner so the wind can pass through the banner easily! Sometimes the real estate on main roads act like wind tunnels. This could (in rare circumstances) break or damage the kits we create for you. That’s why it could be a good idea to add wind slits to your banners but we can decide if you are at risk when you reach out! If you know that the banners will be subject to sustained high winds on a regular basis, ask for wind slits on your banner.

Double Check Your Attachments

The last tip is to attach your grommets to the bracket itself. The banners are made to slide onto the mounting hardware, which do all the heavy lifting. All of our Banners come made with a single brass grommet at both ends of the banner to securely attach to the ringlets on the mounted bracket. This prevents even the lightest of wind gusts from sliding your banner cleanly off the fiberglass poles provided (see kit details in installation guide). Don't forget or forgo this step or you may have a banner fly away on you during a windy day!

Pro tip: Check the diameter of your utility and light poles. If they aren't the standard size, then we will have to accommodate that with larger banding straps!

Your Hometown Hero Banner Kit comes with quite a few items. Here’s a quick checklist for you!

• Your Hero Banner(s)
• 4 Banding Straps
• 2 Mounting Brackets
• 2 Fiberglass Poles
• Zip ties (upon request)

Step 1: Make sure you have all the materials needed (lift, of course your banner kit, gloves, tape measure, a light for night installations)

Step 2: Clear the area, make sure you won't cause any accidents on your road while installing.

Step 3: When you are up to the level you want your banners to display, attach your top bracket to the pole by securing the ratchet straps around the top and bottom of the bracket. This is indicated by the indented space available for the strap to lay in.

Step 4: Slide the top of your banner onto the fiberglass pole you just installed. Be sure to clip it into the ringlet on the bracket by placing a zip tie through the brass grommet and ring as secure as you prefer.

Step 5: Move your lift or ladder about five to six feet lower in order to attach the bottom bracket.

Step 6: Follow the same instructions from Step 3 for the bottom bracket! Before fully tightening the bracket, be sure to make the banner to your desired tightness.

Step 7: Strap in the bottom grommet securely to the bottom bracket.

Step 8: Take a step back and take a good look at it! Make any adjustments needed.

Congratulations, you did it. Now you can move on to the next one and repeat the process.

Every once in a while it's a good idea to check in on your banners. Make sure the brackets are still securely fastened to the pole and there isn’t any sign of early weather damage. Tighten the straps and ensure the grommets are still connected to the bracket as a fail-safe.

These banners should last several years, although fading will occur over time. Eventually they will need replacing, but we have you covered. We keep all customer designs on file so reordering is easier than ever. Chances are the hardware will be fine, so you will just need to order a replacement banner rather than the whole kit. If you're ready for a replacement banner, just give us a call at 1-888-697-3524 or contact us online and we'd be happy to help you out!

Ready to Design Your Own Hometown Hero Banner?

We're here to help you every step of the way! You can learn more about custom avenue banner design here. Interested in a quote for your banner? You can request a custom flag quote here.

Share Your Hometown Hero Banners With Us On Social

We would love to see how your banners look once you install them. Send us your pictures via email or leave one behind when you review our team and products on Google! You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and TikTok @gettysburgflag. We love everything about what these banners represent and we hope you enjoy these banners as much as we do.

Browse through the gallery here to see some completed Hometown Hero banners. It's a great place to find some inspiration for the banners in your own town!