As part of the observance of the 23rd Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, the Town of Longboat Key installed 2,977 American flags in the Town’s right-of-way in remembrance of those who died in the attacks and their aftermath that day. The flags were installed on Tuesday, September 10.
This remembrance was initiated by the Town of Longboat Key and Chamber of Commerce in 2002. The Town’s Public Works staff has stored and maintained the flags, and set up this display every year.
The idea was to develop a low-key, solemn, yet powerful, memorial by placing a single, small, American flag in the right-of-ways of the Town for each person who lost their life on a day that has forever changed our great Country. People wake up on the morning of 9-11, see the 2,977 flags, and then find them gone on September 12th. This annual, passive display has been the Town’s only official commemoration of this important event in our Country’s history over the past twenty-three years.
Gulf of Mexico Drive is approximately 10 miles long and has over 100,000 linear feet of right-of-way, counting both sides of the road. In order to accommodate all of the flags, they are placed approximately 20-30 feet apart along both sides of the entire length of Gulf of Mexico Drive, as well as along Bay Isles Road.
