Volunteers plant 40,000 American flags in Irving for the Great Flag Caper
The streets of Irving are being decorated with tens of thousands of American flags for the 2025 Great Flag Caper. Hundreds of volunteers will plant flags in front of homes, businesses, and places of worship to celebrate the Fourth of July.
It's a day with a purpose for a group of volunteers on a balmy Sunday morning at the Great Flag Caper command center, which is led by Nell Ann Hunt.
"It's really kind of a Norman Rockwell event," Hunt said.
Forty thousand flags will line the Irving neighborhood and almost 11 miles of MacArthur Boulevard to show patriotism and unity for the July 4th holiday.
"People have said they didn't know their neighbors until they got out and put out flags, and now they met their neighbors," Hunt said. "They want to have cookouts together and do things together. They're interested in their children and their dogs and everything."
It wouldn't be possible without the help of more than 300 volunteers, including nine-year-old David Hernandez.
"It's really fun, and it's really nice to see all the flags there. We all work together," Hernandez said.
Devin Patel, 17, organized a club to find volunteers for the cause.
"It's like a great feeling. Sometimes we'll be doing this, and cars will honk at us. You're happy and smiling, even though it's hard. It's like 90 degrees outside. You feel really good, feeling like I want to be out here," Patel said.
Volunteers have been planting flags for 33 years now in Irving, and the idea has spread across the nation.
"We have residents who moved to other parts of the country. They say that they remember so much, with so much happiness, getting to put out flags and the beauty that it creates. They've done it in Vermont or Oklahoma or wherever they are moving to," Hunt said.
The flag planting continues through July 3. Visit the if interested in volunteering.
