People have discovered that beach flags are a terrific way to express themselves, writes Jason Nark for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Take Ed Panco’s flag at the Wildwood beach, for example.

His custom-made flag, “Pancadise,” is a reference to his backyard paradise in Ridley built for his kids.

“I just moved Pancadise to the beach,” said the 69-year-old.

Once a way to mark your spot so people in the water could find you again, beach flags now represent your beliefs, your politics, where you went to school, your sports team leanings, etc.

A recent visit to a Wildwood beach showed most of the flags were for various Philadelphia sports teams.

But there were also Penn State flags, Temple flags, a handful for Father Judge High School.

Thin blue flags represented the police. Thin red were firefighters.

Some used their beach flag to promote a business.

“In 1968, we didn’t have one single flag,” said Sea Isle City Beach Patrol Chief Renny Steele. “It’s been the last 10 years.”

The flags do help beach patrols reunite lost kids with families.

“Each summer, we deal with anywhere from 175 to 200 lost children,” he said.

Read more about in The Philadelphia Inquirer about the proliferation of beach flags.