Maine basketball fans may never see another night like June 26 again. For the first time ever, a player from the Pine Tree State is all-but-guaranteed to be selected first overall.
And as Mainers prepare for what is expected to be Cooper Flagg’s historic draft night, an official watch party event is being held at a sports bar in Falmouth with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine.
“Obviosly, like everyone else in the state of Maine, we’re super excited for Cooper,” said RMHC Maine CEO Julie Mulkern. “And this is sort of a once in a lifetime thing for Maine.”
Mulkern said this will be the only official draft party in Maine approved by the Flagg family.
Tickets for the event at Rivalries Sports Bar and Restaurant in Falmouth will cost $100 and give attendees access to a designated VIP area inside the restaurant, which will remain open to the public that night. The ticket comes with food, a draft party T-shirt and two complimentary raffle tickets.
The event was announced late last week and fewer than 30 of the 75 available tickets remain, the charity said on Tuesday.
Ronald McDonald House Charities provide housing and other support to families when a child is sick or injured.
“The Flaggs have been nothing but really super supportive of our organization for years,” Mulkern said.
The list of event sponsors includes the Flagg family, which has a personal connection to the organization and previously donated $10,000 to a Ronald McDonald House facility in North Carolina.
Around the time of that donation, Flagg’s mother, Kelly Flagg, spoke in December 2024 about how the family turned to the Ronald McDonald House in Portland during two difficult pregnancies, as reported by the News & Observer. Kelly gave birth to sons Hunter and Ryder in August of 2004 at 24 weeks and the twin boys had dangerously low birth weights.
Ryder Flagg died two days later, and Hunter spent more than 100 days in the hospital in Portland — when the Ronald McDonald House became a home away from home for the family from Newport. And it became so again, for a much shorter stay, when Cooper and his twin brother Ace were born prematurely in December of 2006 and healthy enough to go home after a few days.
“We’re feeling very fortunate to be in this position where we can give back,” Kelly Flagg told the News & Observer. “When we think about what we want to do, this is a great partnership for us to be able to give back to. Something like this that we personally have benefited from.”
Mulkern highlighted that strong connection with the Flagg family and said her organization is “incredibly grateful” that the Flaggs have chosen to partner with them. Mulkern anticipates that longstanding relationship to continue and hopes to hold a similar event welcoming Ace Flagg back to the state when he starts his collegiate basketball career at the University of Maine this coming season.
For the Falmouth event on June 26, Rivalries will be donating both the space and food according to Mulkern.
Rivalries owner Lance Meader has known the Flagg family since their kids played fourth grade AAU basketball together, and he also knows how much this moment means to the state.
Meader played college basketball at the University of Maine at Farmington and his late father, Dick Meader, was a legendary basketball coach in the state.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever see an NBA player from Maine in our lifetime, let alone the number one pick and a generational talent,” Lance Meader said about Cooper Flagg. “So it’s been fun to watch, from seeing him at a young age progress all the way to now. I think it’s a big deal for Maine, and it’s gonna be fun just to watch that event and see it all unfold.”
Both Meader and Mulkern also credited Victor Rios for his involvement in the draft watch party event. Rios is the designer of an “In Flagg We Trust” T-shirt that has already been raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine.
Meader, like pretty much everyone else in the basketball world, is confident that Flagg will be the number one pick at the NBA draft, which will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“I think they’re excited to have something back here to celebrate Cooper,” Meader said about the Flagg family. “Obviously they’ll be at the draft site and doing their thing. But it will be fun to have a full house here on a Wednesday night, celebrating such a big deal for Maine.”
And it will be a big deal for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine as well, in what Mulkern described as an “uncertain” world for nonprofits right now.
“We serve families from every corner of Maine, all 16 counties,” Mulkern said. “If we didn’t exist, they would be traveling hours with nowhere to stay and nowhere to eat.”
There are Ronald McDonald House locations in Bangor and Portland where families can stay overnight, along with RMHC family room facilities on site at the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center and Maine Medical Center hospitals that provide additional services like seating and kitchen areas, laundry and shower facilities, computer and TV access, and playrooms.