Longboat Key Sept. 11 flag tradition continues on attack's 20th anniversary

On Sept. 10, the Public Works Department of Longboat Key will begin putting out exactly 2,974 American flags for the 19th time. They’ll stay up until the morning of Sept. 12 as the town’s annual remembrance of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The tradition is one that came about thanks to Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce President Gail Loefgren, who held an event in 2002 in Joan Durante Park to honor Longboat Key’s police and fire department. They spoke a few words of remembrance, had a moment of silence and rang a bell. 

“We didn't want to keep doing the same gathering in Joan Durante Park and (keep) trying to keep the program fresh,” Loefgren said. “I thought, ‘I really need to find something that is permanent, that is not intense with trying to gather people.’ I truly did have this vision of over 2,000 huge flags in Joan Durante. I thought, ‘Oh my God, that would be amazing.’ And then I thought, ‘Oh, that’s never going to happen.’” 

For 2003, she thought up the idea of little flags lining Gulf of Mexico Drive, all 11 miles, one for each victim of the attacks. Loefgren first went to then-Public Works director Juan Florenza, who agreed to have his department plant each tiny flagpole in the ground. The first question from Loefgren’s chamber board was where the money for nearly 3,000 flags would come from. Luckily, Reed Savidge from Ace Hardware stepped up. He offered to sell Loefgren all 2,974 flags at $1 each. 

“We publicized what the chamber was going to do ... and we had many residents drop off checks at the chamber along with our chamber members contributing to the flag fund,” Loefgren said. “I remember getting checks for $200 and $300, which was amazing.”

Loefgren hasn’t had to replace individual flags often, but she did have to replace 300 frayed flags at once. That time, Savidge just donated them to the chamber’s tradition. Thanks to Savidge’s patriotic present and the Public Works Department’s dedication to sticking the flags in the ground exactly the same distance apart, the tradition has remained simple, yet strong. It's only been canceled twice, because of hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Irma in 2017. Residents still comment on the observance and Loefgren said she will never forget the first time she saw it.

“I came in from the north end … and it was so emotional for me,” Loefgren said. “I drove down the whole island, didn't even stop at the chamber office. I just wanted to drive the whole island and see what it looked like, and then I turned around and came back. I think it still gets me every time I come on the island because it's so unlike anything that anybody else has done. It's unique.”