{"id":60,"date":"2012-01-23T15:36:47","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T15:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/?p=60"},"modified":"2012-01-23T15:52:18","modified_gmt":"2012-01-23T15:52:18","slug":"flag-works-911-story-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/historical-flags\/flag-works-911-story-2001\/","title":{"rendered":"Flag-Works 9\/11 Story (2001)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Flag-Works Store Front 2001<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

September is usually a quiet time at our flag store<\/a>. \u00a0Summer is over and anyone needing to replace a faded flag or who had dreams of adding a flagpole<\/a> to their yard had already done so. \u00a0In 2001 my husband, Patrick, and I had just been married so it was a great time for us. \u00a0We had casual days at the store and plenty of time in the evenings to do some work around our new home. \u00a0Life was good.<\/p>\n

I remember driving into work the morning of September 11th and hearing on the radio about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. \u00a0I had a feeling of uneasiness about the whole thing because it just seemed so odd. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t wait to get into the store and tell Patrick, who had left before me that morning to run some errands. \u00a0I arrived and Patrick had already heard the news. \u00a0 As I was opening the retail portion of the store I heard on the radio about the second plane hitting the World Trade Center. \u00a0I got a sick feeling in my body. \u00a0I ran into the back of the store to tell my husband and we both sat down for a minute to think about what all of this meant. \u00a0Patrick went out to get a small TV so we could be aware of what was going on and get up-to-date new reports. \u00a0We then heard of the Pentagon also being attacked. What was happening was surreal.<\/p>\n

It was quiet in the store and the City of Concord<\/a> became still. \u00a0We had no customers come in or call. \u00a0We sat glued to the TV still unaware of what our role in this tragedy would be. \u00a0A few hours later our retail doorbell rang and we had a customer come into the store. \u00a0A woman, distraught and crying, came in and said she needed an American flag<\/a>. \u00a0She couldn\u2019t believe this was happening to our country. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know how to comfort her because I needed comforting myself. \u00a0As Americans we all needed some comforting. \u00a0She left with her flag seeming somewhat stronger than when she came in. \u00a0I will never forget my interaction with her and the renewed patriotism that was about to sweep the country. For Flag-Works, she was just the beginning. \u00a0Within an hour, we had a line in the store and out the door. \u00a0Patrick and I weren\u2019t quite sure how to handle the crowds. \u00a0People came into the store to choose a flag then proceeded to the end of the line, even if it was outside our door. There was no time for policing or mistrust on our part. \u00a0People were coming in as Americans and we had to trust that they acted in good faith. \u00a0Our phone, too, was ringing off the hook with people trying to place orders to be shipped. \u00a0Our large catalog and flag internet business was distracting us from helping those in front of us, the people of Concord. \u00a0With a limited supply of flags<\/a> in stock we decided it was most important for us to take care of Concord first. \u00a0We put a message on our answering machine and on our website telling people we weren\u2019t currently able to take phone or internet orders.<\/p>\n

For 5 days the routine stayed the same. \u00a0Arrive at the store 1 hr before we opened (there would already be a line outside the door by then) and stay through until the evening hours, working straight through. \u00a0We would leave to go home and feed our dogs, grab a quick bite to eat and head back in to clean the store and get re-stocked for the next day. \u00a0When we finally arrived home late at night we would watch the news (at this point we had no time for our in-store TV) to see the day\u2019s developments and hopefully get a few hours sleep. \u00a0Our honeymoon period was most certainly over! \u00a0We brought in extra help and tried to order as many flags from our manufacturers as we could. \u00a0You see, it was off season for them too so there weren\u2019t many flags in the warehouses to go out. \u00a0In our store the line remained long yet people waited. \u00a0It was interesting to watch what happened between people, some with a 30-45 minute wait, to purchase their flag. \u00a0After completing their purchase, many would exchange hugs or handshakes with those next to them in line that they got to know. \u00a0It was truly amazing to see what happens when people stand together as Americans. There were no differences between us, we were all Americans and that is what mattered.<\/p>\n

After about 5 days we ran out of flags. \u00a0For that matter we ran out of anything red, white and blue! \u00a0We put signs on the door saying we were out but people still stopped in to see for themselves. \u00a0When our first re-stocking truckload arrived a few days later word got out quickly. \u00a0Local radio stations picked up on it and made an announcement that we had just received a shipment. \u00a0This continued every time we ran out, which was every couple of days. \u00a0Many times people would be waiting by our door and when a truck pulled up with more flags, they\u2019d help us unload. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t just Flag-Works that was out of flags, there was a national shortage. \u00a0 With only 2 embroidery houses in the entire US making star fields<\/a> for flags, the flag manufacturers couldn\u2019t keep up with the demand. \u00a0This cycle continued for months.<\/p>\n

The show of patriotism on and after September 11th was remarkable. \u00a0There were American Flags<\/a> flying everywhere. \u00a0We united together as a country using our flag as a show of unity. \u00a0Since that time, flags have faded and so has the show of patriotism. Everyone seems to have gotten back to putting their differences first. \u00a0I hope that this September 11th we all remember the feeling we had 10 years ago as a united country. \u00a0Sure, there will always be differences among us, that\u2019s what makes this country so great.\u00a0 It\u2019s the place of importance that we put those differences that makes or breaks our strength as a country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karin Page<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  September is usually a quiet time at our flag store. \u00a0Summer is over and anyone needing to replace a faded flag or who had dreams of adding a flagpole to their yard had already done so. \u00a0In 2001 my husband, Patrick, and I had just been married so it was a great time for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45],"tags":[49,51,52,50],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9wIlQ-Y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flag-works.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}