In the City, Flags Are Everywhere

By Karen Freifeld | STAFF WRITER

September 16, 2001

Draped over trucks, stuck into backpacks, taped to taxi aerials, worn as bandannas under hard hats, or flying as banners - the American flag was raised high on the urban landscape this week, as New Yorkers expressed a wave of patriotism brought on by the World Trade Center tragedy.

"I wanted to show my faith in my country," said Barbara Nardini, 42, of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, wearing a stars-and-stripes kerchief as she volunteered Friday in the kitchen of the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan, which is supplying food to victims' families and rescuers.

"We want to let our enemies know we're united," said Steve Schmelk, owner of the Park Avenue Country Club restaurant, where star-spangled-banner posters were taped to the windows.

"I feel like one big family with my country, [a feeling] which has been missing for a long time," said Robert Dorf, who wore a jean jacket with an embroidered flag as he went to the armory to see if he could find out anything about his brother, Steven, among the missing. "I feel I'm getting through this because of a lot of support out there."

Flag merchants say business is booming.

"We can't keep up with it," said Jeff Kessler, whose family has owned Five Boro Flag, Banner & Sign in Queens Village for 50 years. "There's a line out my door of 100 people. The most I've ever seen in my life."

On Friday, he said, "We went through 10,000 to 15,000 of the stick flags, 1,000 to 1,500 of the house flags - and we don't have half of what people want."

Before Tuesday's disaster - back when the Twin Towers seemed a permanent anchor into the sky - artist Bates Wilson had translated the red-white-and-blue into a 4-by-5-foot aluminum and copper flag.

"I made it and sold it to someone else and kind of had to buy it back," said Wilson, 41, of Greenwich Village. Wilson, who said a firefighter friend is among the missing, has collected thousands of signatures on the flag in the past few days. He said he plans to auction the piece off and donate the proceeds to a relief fund.

Why did he create the piece in the first place? "Icons," he said, "are just beautiful."