Manufacturers and retailers say U.S. flag production and sales are rebounding this Flag Day as citizens replace worn flags, get ready for the Fourth of July and show support for troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Cheryl Lawrence, owner of Flags 'N More in Ft. Gratiot, Mich., says she has seen a shift in customers' ages, as younger adults buy flags to support friends and loved ones
serving in the war. In years past, about 70% of her customers were 35 and older, she said, but "now it's about 50-50."
Flag sales hit record levels after the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, and the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003. But they slumped by 2004. Lawrence says she is selling about 50 flags a month this year, compared with about 144 3-by-5 foot flags per month
in 2001 and 2002. "That's the difference," she says, "9/11 was unprecedented."
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