For the past 19 years, hundreds of volunteers have risen before dawn’s early light to help place 2,400 American flags along Main Street, Yosemite Avenue as well as other streets.

Then nine hours later they retrieve the flags and store them away until the next display date.

The flag display dubbed “Flags Over Manteca” was launched by the Manteca Chamber of Commerce on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The business organization under the leadership of Joe Pellegrino who was the executive director at the time raised $60,000 in less than two months to make what has become the chamber’s marquee project possible.

The city drilled 2,400 holes in sidewalks that volunteers will sometimes need to use a teaspoon to clear out accumulated dirt and such before they place a flag for display.

A number of the groups and many of the volunteers have been helping from the start.

Chamber Executive Director Joann Beattie said that dedication has been critical to the project’s success. But after almost two decades, the volunteers are getting older and organizations involved are having more difficulty in getting the number of volunteers needed to place and retrieve the flags.

Beattie said the chamber is looking for new groups to augment the efforts of groups such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Del Webb volunteers to name a few.

Flags are displayed 10 days a year weather permitting. The next display date — the Fourth of July — is considered the biggest as thousands of people gather along the flag-lined Main Street to take in the Sunrise Kiwanis Independence Day parade.

Other display days are Labor Day, Patriot Day (Sept. 11), Veterans Day, Pearl Harbor Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, and Flag Day that occurred on Monday.

The first time the flags went out was on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The number of flags originally was set at 2,400 to symbolize the American lives lost at during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Beattie lauded Ann King for her tireless effort to coordinating the Flags Over Manteca effort as the chair.

Groups interested in helping can contact Beattie  at 823-6121 for  more details.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com