NORTH PARK — North Park is decked out in patriotic red, white and blue for the Fourth of July, courtesy of a couple of residents who've blanketed the area with 1,700 flags.
Real estate agents Carmen and Tony Rodriguez started the tradition about 10 years ago — the husband and wife disagree on the exact timing — as a way to thank the community for supporting their business.
"The idea is, if you're taking from the community, you give back," said Carmen.
That first year, the two planted 250 flags in the handful of blocks surrounding their North Park home.
"It was a hit," Carmen said, so they eventually expanded their radius to include pretty much every home between Jersey and Central Park and Peterson to the Chicago River.
"One of the reasons it became so popular is that we do it ourselves and with our kids," she said.
The Rodriguez family planted the flags around the neighborhood today.
Their three children initially provided more comic relief than help — oldest daughter Lucy was 7 years old and twins Sam and Sara were 5 when operation Stars & Stripes commenced — but now that they're teenagers, the younger Rodriguezes are more than pulling their weight.
"It used to take four hours to do 250 flags," Carmen said. "Now it takes three hours to do 1,700. Even when they're in college, they'll be home for the Fourth."
The sight of all those flags is particularly poignant to Carmen who, like her husband, is the child of immigrants.
"They're really joyful," she said of the flags. "They make you feel happy when you see them fluttering."
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