Longboat stages 9/11 tribute (WITH VIDEO)

For the ninth year in a row, Longboat Key Public Works Department employees worked three additional hours Sept. 10 to line Gulf of Mexico Drive with American flags.

Each year on Sept. 11, 2,974 flags line Gulf of Mexico Drive, one for each victim of the terrorist attacks in 2001.

Using four golf carts, each equipped with about 700 flags, eight Public Works employees line the road from Broadway to New Pass Bridge.

The flags are sponsored by the town of Longboat Key and the Longboat Key, Lido Key, St. Armands Key Chamber of Commerce, which bought the flags for the first Sept. 11 Longboat Key tribute in 2002.

The accompanying video shows town employees placing the flags along the road. Motorists, as shown in this video, honked at the employees all afternoon, showing their appreciation for the flags of remembrance. (Scroll down for video)

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].