A young entrepreneur is making it his mission to honor veterans here in Ohio with a family business and parade float that are both centered around the flag.
What You Need To Know
- Pinnacle Flagpole Company is owned by 21-year-old Alex Temple who started the business at the age of 16
- The Troy-based company installs flagpoles and sells everything related to displaying flags
- Alex and his father Steve also created a popular parade float inspired by the Iwo Jima Memorial
Alex Temple is 21-years-old. He started Pinnacle Flagpole Company when he was just 16. His father Steve owned a similar business that closed in 2004.
“We started it back up, and we started getting after it,” Temple said. “When Dad mentioned, ‘Do you want to put up flagpoles?’ I was like,
‘Absolutely.’ As a kid, I loved being around veterans,. We did honor flights where you take a bunch of veterans to the memorials in Washington D.C.” Temple said. “It’s a very cool program and I’m honored to be a part of that.
Inspired by those trips to the Iwo Jima Memorial, Temple and his dad built a float that recreates one of the most famous flag raising moments ever. “We did eight parades last year and we hope to do 10 or 11 this year,” he said.
“Hopefully we just continue to grow and continue to give back to these veterans,” Temple said. He points to projects like a multi-flagpole monument he created for the city of Carlisle as the kind of work he wants to continue.
“It’ll make a veteran tear up because nowadays, they don’t get the recognition they deserve and so that’s pretty much a mission statement as a company,” Temple said.
Along with his dad, Alex has put four of his best friends to work.
“Evan Russell, Nate Callison, Blake Burge, Ethan Farmer are like family,” he said. “I try to surround myself and build a team of like-minded individuals that want to be greater, that want more and are not content with mediocrity.”
That’s why his company name and logo feature a mountain peak in addition to a flag and cross.
“The pinnacle means the peak and the best,” he said. “We may not be that right this very second but our goal is that one percent a day, we’ll get there.”
Temple says it never gets old looking at a flag flying on a pole he’s planted.
“We’re just thankful for the network that we have built and the people that we’ve been able to meet and the impact that we’ve been able to make not only as myself but as a team altogether.”
