The National 9/11 Flag, recovered from the rubble at Ground Zero after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, will be making an appearance at the Sharon Springs Firehouse Sunday.
Ceremonies will begin at 2pm; any firefighters interested in taking part are asked to gather in uniform at 1:30pm to help unfold the flag-a job that typically takes 40 volunteers.
The 9/11 flag's journey to Sharon Springs is an unusual one.
Frank Tucker is an AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer working with SALT Recovery who's now living in Sharon.
A former Freeport, Long Island firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center with a heavy rescue truck and spent two days there after 9/11, Mr. Tucker knew 23 of the volunteers who died there.
"This is personal for me," he said.
The 23 are among those immortalized on a flag hanging inside the Sharon Springs Firehouse; when Mr. Tucker's friend, retired New York City firefighter Jimmy Sands offered to bring the 9/11 flag upstate, he knew just the place for it.
The 20-foot-by-40-foot flag has gone cross-country since 9/11. Tattered and torn, it's been stitched back together by volunteers, "much like our country has been stitched back together," Mr. Tucker said.
The flag is fragile enough that it can't be displayed from something like an arch, Mr. Tucker said, but he's hoping to hang it on the side of a ladder truck.
Sunday's event is a collaboration between SALT and the Sharon Springs Fire Department.
All are welcome.