Wayne Gomez carries a special business card with him when he runs errands and notices a flag whose time has come. The Kissimmee Marine veteran's card tells homeowners and store managers that while he appreciates the country's colors being flown, a tattered flag should be retired and replaced. Then he offers to take the old flag to give it a proper send-off.

The next day, the 59-year-old Gomez said, "The flag is down and a new one is flying. Most people want to respect the flag, but they don't know how."

Nearly two years after Sept. 11, with flags on cars and front porches getting faded and worn, it appears more Central Floridians are learning, though. Gomez and other organizers of today's Flag Day retirement ceremonies expect to provide a "dignified and solemn" goodbye for more flags than ever before.

At the Bahia Shrine in Maitland, where last year's large regional ceremony retired more than 2,000 flags, organizers anticipate at least 1,000 more Stars and Stripes this year, maybe double.

"People are getting more proud of their flag," said Marian Roberts, a 73-year-old Air Force veteran who started the Maitland event with her husband, Tom, an Army veteran, in 1996. "When people see this flag means something and represents so many people, they want to see it retired correctly."

Veterans, Boy Scouts and others collect old flags year-round and hold them for ceremonies such as the one in Maitland, which will include a reading of "The Ragged Old Flag" by Tom Roberts. Flag Day, the anniversary of the adoption of the American flag in 1777, is the traditional day to dispose of the flag and reflect on its symbolism.

Shops such as Flag World Inc. of Orlando saw a surge of star-spangled purchases after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Most flags enduring Florida's weather age and fade in about 18 months, so word has been getting out about what to do with flags when their service is over.

"If people have a flag that's tattered and torn, they know to bring it to Fred," said Fred Holmes, an Army veteran of Winter Park who gathers flags at the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Orlando and from friends and neighbors. "It's permeating the neighborhoods."

This year, the holiday falls just more than a week after the U.S. House, for the fifth time in eight years, passed a constitutional amendment against the "physical desecration of the flag" -- flag burning.

While amendment backers want to outlaw the burning of flags as a show of disrespect, it wouldn't apply to ceremonies such as those that will be held today. Proper disposal calls for dipping the flag into kerosene and then into flames, according to the National Flag Day Foundation.

Several groups will follow that procedure for someold flags as a tribute of honor. The knowledge that seeing the red, white and blue on fire is often viewed as a sign of protest -- as well as the sheer volume of banners this year -- has prompted many organizers to plan to have most of the flags cremated at area funeral homes.

Gomez, as commandant of the Marine Corps League's Chapter 1092, will lead the first-ever retirement ceremony at Disabled American Veterans Chapter 148 in Kissimmee. Last year, the group donated between 30 and 50 flags for the Maitland ceremony. Today, it will have 300 of its own.

"All of the flags will be folded and displayed and treated with respect," said Mike Nix, a Marine veteran who will participate in the Kissimmee event. "There are so many flags since Sept. 11, and they need to be retired in honor for what they have given us."

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