Clear to partly cloudy. Low 79F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 79F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

Charles Surgi, a Coast Guard veteran, uses one of his flagpoles to raise the flag in 2018 at his home in Joplin. Globe | Roger Nomer

Charles Surgi, a Coast Guard veteran, uses one of his flagpoles to raise the flag in 2018 at his home in Joplin. Globe | Roger Nomer

Flag Day, which is Tuesday, has long been an important holiday in Charles Surgi’s life.

Nothing irritates him more than when people don’t display the American flag correctly, and for more than a decade he’s sold flagpoles to help people display the banner properly.

But advancing age means he’s having trouble filling orders for his flagpoles, and especially the concrete bases he creates in his workshop to help people display the flag without having to dig holes in the hard clay and rock of Southwest Missouri.

“People still want these,” he said of his flagpoles. “I’ve got four on order right now that I can’t deliver because I can’t get the bases made.”

Surgi, who will turn 90 this year, said, “I’m looking for someone to take over this business. Not that I want to sell my business, but I want to sell them my idea. I’ve talked to some people around here, but I can’t interest them in it.”

A U.S. Coast Guard veteran, Surgi has built two successful businesses from scratch in his lifetime. The first was Surgi Manufacturing, a metalworking shop making stampings and parts for area businesses that his two sons still operate in Carl Junction.

“But business of that type slacked off a lot, and they weren’t able to make a full-time business of it,” he said. “So both of them now have excellent jobs at Leggett & Platt, but they both go over to Carl Junction two or three days a week and take care of their customers.”

The second was Surgi Midwest Enterprises, also known as Four-State Flags. He started this after retiring from Surgi Manufacturing in 2007 at the age of 75, selling American and custom-designed flags and telescoping flagpoles.

When he first started the flagpole business he dug holes and poured concrete in the holes as the base for his poles.

That got old after a couple of years, “so I came up with a design for a base for the poles, and these concrete bases I make are what’s selling my flagpoles,” Surgi said. “I deliver them only in Jasper County because they weigh so much you can’t ship them in the mail. They weigh about 350 pounds, and I’ve sold about 150 of those bases in the last couple of years. People like them because they don’t have to dig a hole in the ground to concrete them in, and they’re portable.”

The bases he makes are large, flat, concrete discs with raised center points where the pipe holding the pole sits.

The weight of the base holds it down in all but the stiffest winds. To move it, one has to put a lever in a hole on the side of the disc and lift the disc on edge. Then one can roll it to wherever one wants it to go.

Surgi said he makes the bases in different sizes to accommodate different needs.

He said he knows the business can be successful for someone willing to work hard and sell the bases aggressively.

“There’s no other place in the United States that I know of that makes bases for flagpoles like these,” he said. “The only problem I have in trying to sell to the hardware stores is they want you to send stuff by email to them. I haven’t been able to talk to a person one on one, a live body, to tell them about this. I think I could sell them on this, and if I could sell them on it, and they have trucks where they could pick up and deliver bases, I could sit here and make bases for them to pick up.”

Surgi, whose father, Sid E. Surgi, was one of the signers of the petition to incorporate the village of Airport Drive and served on one of the first village board of trustees, said he considers Flag Day as an important holiday.

He said nothing irritates him more than people displaying the flag improperly.

“Flag etiquette says you don’t put anything on the American flag except the Stars and Stripes, and people are putting business names on it and they’re putting pictures on it and a red or blue stripe where its not supposed to be on there,” he said.

• The American flag should not be left out in the rain or other inclement weather.

• It should also be lighted if it is left out at night.

• On a pole flying two or more flags, the U.S. flag should be flown on top, and no other flag should be larger than the U.S. flag.

• No other message or display should be overlaid on the American flag.

• The flag should also never touch the ground or be flown upside down, except as a distress signal.

Joplin’s American Legion Post 13 will conduct a flag retirement ceremony, in honor of Flag Day, at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the grounds of Memorial Hall, Eighth Street and Joplin Avenue.

The community may participate or bring retired U.S. or state flags for disposal. If individuals wish to retire their own family flag, Legion members will be on hand to assist. Flag Day was established in 1916.

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