Lenoir City shop owner didn't ask for this massive Biden sign, and there's not much she can do

Angie Monahan, owner of Honey Blossom Boutique in Lenoir City, was having a regular Sunday morning on July 14 when she received a surprise call from one of her friends. He asked, "Did you put this sign up?"

Monahan had no idea what her friend was talking about until he texted her a picture. Her mouth dropped open.

Above her shop hung a 10-by-20-foot red, white and blue sign reading, "Biden Harris: Truth Over Lies 2024."

Monahan leases her space and immediately went to speak to the building owner. She insisted the sign come down because it looked like she and her shop were backing the Democrats. The owner insisted it would stay up, she said.

Building owner Ricky Miles declined to comment to Knox News.

The next day, Monahan went to City Hall to figure out her options. It turned out, free speech and election laws meant everyone's hands were tied.

So Monahan did the next best thing. She got to work on her own sign with ribbons, American flags and arrows pointing up.

"My sign that I put in the store looks like an arts and crafts project that Dollar Tree threw up all over and says, 'This business did not hang this sign' with arrows pointing upward. But when you're driving down the road, all you see is Biden Harris," Monahan said.

On a Facebook post for her business account, she criticized as "down right sick" the timing of posting the banner the weekend of a failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump during a July 13 campaign rally.

She won't say how she's voting because she wants to separate business from politics.

The Lenoir City area, generally speaking, overwhelming supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election , according to a New York Times map. Stats show the vote totals were about 70% for Trump versus 27% for Joe Biden.

Monahan told Knox News her customers have been supportive, although some have it wrong. She received a few phone calls and emails with threats to boycott her store, thinking she was the one who put up the big sign.

She said she saw one woman about to enter the store when her companions pointed up as the group walked away.

"I feel like this sign has overshadowed all of downtown. I don't think this has just impacted me; it has impacted all the businesses. It has taken the whole atmosphere away from downtown.

"Instead of escaping politics. you're slammed with this in your face," she said.

She floated the idea of moving her business but balked at the expense, particularly as a recently divorced woman who has to support herself for the first time in 35 years.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lenoir City shop owner didn't ask for this massive Biden sign, and there's not much she can do