Banner banter: Selectmen approve placement of banner poles on Main Street

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August 21, 2008

By Bethany Bray

Downtown drivers may soon see a larger-than-life reminder of community events and meetings hanging over Main Street.

Selectmen have given the green light to a committee, headed by downtown business owner Mark Spencer, to begin raising money for the installation of poles, on which an overhead banner could be hung across Main Street.

At their Aug. 11 meeting, selectmen gave approval for a banner to be installed between Memorial Hall Library and the Mobil gas station, where Elm Square ends on Main Street. It would hang "immediately North" of the polar bear statue on the library's front lawn, said Spencer.

Bylaws dictate that banners would only advertize civic events with a benefit to the community, said Spencer, such as the Feaster Five road race on Thanksgiving Day, annual Town Meeting or Art in the Park.

"Anybody that has organized anything, such as Andover Days, has to deal with the inevitable consequence that people don't show up because they forget," said Spencer, who owns Carriage House Portraits on School Street. "Banners are American as apple pie. It's a way to get the world out, an old-fashioned but time-tested way to advertize events. You can't miss a banner."

The banner poles would be around 24-feet tall, allowing a banner to stretch across Main Street at a height of at least 18 feet, so emergency vehicles could pass underneath, said Spencer.

The banner committee has been looking at overhead banners in several other towns, including Norwood, said Spencer. Norwood's banner poles are built to withstand 90-mile-per-hour winds.

Selectmen want to see a final design for Andover's banner poles, before they're installed, said Ted Teichert, chairman.

Now that they have approval, the banner committee will begin raising cash to purchase the poles, said Spencer. Right now, they are considering the idea of having corporate sponsorship and asking downtown business owners to pitch in to purchase the poles, he said.

Most of his colleagues in the Andover Downtown Business Association have been "wildly, positively in favor" of the banner poles, said Spencer.

For now, bases for the poles will be installed on Main Street, and capped until the poles are purchased and installed.

"We have a small window (to install the bases) while Main Street construction is going on," he explained.

Spencer said he hopes the banner poles could be installed and fully functional within the next year.

Main Street banners

In April 2008, Town Meeting voters decided to allow overhead banners as a way to help promote local events.

The banner bylaw states:

r Selectmen would be responsible for the approval or disapproval of banners, which could be hung across Main Street to promote a local event for no longer than a 10-day period.

r The banner would be held 24-feet above the street by two free-standing poles. The banner would be double-sided and 36 feet in length by 36 inches in height.

r The poles would also be required to go more than 12-feet below the ground and be 30 inches wide to provide adequate support.