The City of Guelph courtesy flagpole is located in front of City Hall. The City also has lighting that can be changed for special events to light up Market Square.
Upcoming events
Eligibility to fly a courtesy flag or light up Market Square
The courtesy flag pole and lights at Market Square (both located at City Hall) can be used to:
- Celebrate a non-profit or charitable organization’s event or campaign
- Recognize a state visit or a visit from other governments
- Recognize other organizations or events at the discretion of the Mayor and/or Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)
Requests will not be approved for:
- Political parties or organizations
- Religious organizations or in celebration of religious events
- Commercial entities
- If the intent is contrary to City policies or By-laws
- If the group requesting the raising espouses hatred, violence or racism
- Groups that have already flown a courtesy flag or lit up Market Square during the same calendar year
Request flag raising, half-masting or lights at Market Square
Application to request Courtesy Flag raising and/or Market Square lighting
Facility Booking reviews all requests according to our procedures. Requests will be processed and confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Courtesy flag raising
- If your organization would like the Mayor or a representative to be present for the flag raising, please indicate on your application.
- Courtesy flags will be raised and displayed for one week. If no other courtesy flag requests are made for the following week, the existing flag can be flown for more than one week, if specified on the request form.
- Flags need to be provided to the Facility Booking Office at least five days in advance of the event, with instructions regarding how the flag is to be flown.
- Courtesy flags will be raised and lowered during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday) when staff and equipment resources are available.
- Flags must be picked up within five business days following the event.
Market Square lighting
- The lights are programmed using a colour wheel and we can do several different shades of lights, but the colour may not be exactly what is being requested. We do our best to get as close as possible to the requested colour.
- Lights will be active from dusk until dawn on the selected date
Half-masting
Flags are flown at the half-mast position at City Hall and municipal facilities as a sign of respect, condolence or to commemorate significant dates.
All flags will be flown at half mast, from the day the City is notified of the death until the funeral, or the following the death of:
- a current or former Mayor
- a current Member of Council
- a current City of Guelph employee
- a current Lieutenant Governor of Ontario or the Premier of Ontario
- the current Governor General or the current Prime Minister
- the current Sovereign or a member of the Royal Family related in the first degree to the Sovereign (spouse, son or daughter, father, mother, brother or sister), their spouse or their children
- a current local Member of Parliament or local Member of Provincial Parliament
- a current Police Chief, or active City Police Officer
Flags may also be flown at half-mast in respect to a person or persons not specifically identified in this section, at the discretion of the Mayor and/or the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).
Public notice of the raising of each courtesy flag will be posted on this web page.
Some flags cannot be lowered to half-mast or removed without the use of an aerial truck. Because these flags cannot be readily lowered to half-mast they shall always fly at the top of the flag pole. An example is the flag at Exhibition Park.