NC Dealer Refuses to Lower Giant American Flag
Camping World and Gander RV’s Marcus Lemonis says his dealership’s 40-by-80-foot American flag is a tribute to military veterans and that he will not take it down, despite the threat of thousands of dollars in fines.
A 40-by-80-foot American flag continues to fly over Gander RV of Statesville, N.C., despite protests from city leaders.
Photo courtesy Camping World
STATESVILLE, N.C. — The chairman and CEO of Camping World is attempting to rally the community of Statesville, N.C., to the side of Gander RV, where a massive, 40-by-80-foot American flag has flown since 2015. Marcus Lemonis, who also serves as host of CNBC’s “The Profit,” took to Facebook this week to protest an injunction filed by the city that would fine the dealership $50 per day retroactive to Oct. 15, 2018 — more than $11,000 total, if collected.
Because Gander RV sits within 100 feet of a highway, the largest flag its owners can legally fly would be 25 by 40 feet. City leaders have offered Lemonis a compromise, allowing a flag larger than 1,000 square feet, but he refused.
Lemonis was born in Lebanon and adopted by an American family. He worked at one of his grandfather’s South Florida Chevrolet dealerships before and after it was purchased by AutoNation in 1997. In the early 2000s, family friend and mentor Lee Iacocca staked his launch of an RV company that would merge with Camping World in 2006.
Lemonis told a North Carolina ABC affiliate that the Statesville flag continues a tradition his company began at a Florida dealership.
“I don’t care if it goes to $500 a day,” Lemonis told KIRO 7. “It’s not coming down.”
Originally posted on Auto Dealer Today
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