This proposed Flagpole of Freedom would have been taller than the Empire State Building!

In an about-face that no one had expected, Worcester Resources said they would no longer pursue building the flagpole and park.

According to the Portland Press Herald, it's been almost two years since Columbia Falls, Maine, was proposed to be the site for a billion-dollar park all around the world's largest flagpole in Washington County. It's not that they aren't building it in Maine and going somewhere else. The whole concept has been scrapped.

Why was this huge project scrapped?

The attorney representing Worcester Resources said he didn't know the reason, but the timing points to a vote in Columbia Falls next month. The vote in March was for a new Code of Ordinances that would stop large-scale development like the proposed 2,500-acre park. You can't get much more of a large-scale development than a flagpole taller than the Empire State Building flying a flag bigger than a football field! It would also have a museum, eight miles of loop roads, six miles of gondolas, villages, campgrounds, a hotel, a theater, restaurants, and shops!

Veterans didn't like the 'for profit' part of the plan.

Many veteran's organizations that were approached for investment pushed back on the ‘for-profit’ part of the plan. That was a shock to veterans groups, which slowed down the project. Worcester Resources, the same family behind Wreaths Across America, has always said that if a majority of voters didn't want this, they would take it somewhere else.

This is a classic case of 'not in my backyard'. But will this be in anyone's backyard? For now, the project is no longer happening.