Old Glory is flying off the shelves of flag shops in Alberta as customers rush to show their support of U.S. and British troops in Iraq.

“People have been buying pretty much anything and everything that says ‘U.S.’ – they want decals for their cars, they want lapel pins and little flags for their desks. They want flags for their car aerials and flags to fly outside their homes and businesses,” says Kim Gault, manager of the Flag Shop on Centre Street in Calgary.

Union Jacks have also been popular, she says. In Edmonton, Flag Shop co-owner Phyllis Bright says a couple of weeks ago, hardly anybody was buying the Stars and Stripes, but everything changed one Friday afternoon.

“I was listening to the radio at lunch last Friday, and there was a big offensive on the part of the Americans. By the afternoon, people were starting to stream in,” she says.

Larry MacDougal photos, Business Edge
Kim Gault of the Flag Shop in Calgary says customers want anything with American symbolism.

“A lot of people are very emotional. Some people want to say to the Canadian government: ‘We’re not happy with what you’re doing.’ Others don’t care if Canada is involved, but they really want to show solidarity with the Americans.”

In Calgary, staff at Flagworks had a nasty shock last Friday morning when they came into work and saw the massive Stars and Stripes mounted on the wall outside their 12th Avenue S.E. store had been vandalized with blood-red paint in the night.

“They threw three balloons filled with red paint. It splattered and dripped and made it a big mess,” says flagmaker Bob Patrick.

The vandals left behind a three-page handwritten note to Premier Ralph Klein filled with what Patrick called “rhetoric about the Iraq war.”

“You shouldn’t show so much disrespect to a national flag, no matter what country it is,” Patrick adds. “If we can’t fix it, we’ll put a banner across it and show we’re supporting our friends to the south.”

Flagworks owner Arlene Flock says the store is doing about four times the amount of business than is usual for this time of year.



“Most customers believe that they can make a statement that they support the coalition,” she said, adding she decided to display the $1,500 US flag outside her building “because that’s our position. Nobody is too shy here.”