The months of prep were exhausting. I had ordered my largest number of shirts yet, and they all needed a logotag sewn on before getting size-labeled and packaged up. The rather extensive batch of pottery I had been producing suffered an over-firing in the kiln, leading to many pieces melted or broken. The mass casualties left me with barely enough survivors to fill out a full table on game day.

As if producing, packaging and storing product for transport wasn't enough, I decided to design and build a pirate flag to wave and display at my booth. I wanted to create something both commemorative of my love for this event, that I would undoubtedly display in my office or future store, and sturdy enough to weather use throughout the years. The result? A three by five foot thick black linen fabric featuring Rosco and his eyepatch, secured to a heavy seven-foot pole with stainless steel hardware and strategically shredded on its open end to appear tattered and battle-worn.