The calls come from all over the country, and this time of year there is a prevailing chance a baseball team will be on the other end. Barnett owns and operates 50 Stars Productions. Anyone possessing even cursory interest in American sports knows her work. Barnett stores, ships and rents out the gigantic United States flags teams unfurl during pregame ceremonies, the uniquely and explicitly American adornment to our uniquely and explicitly American games.

Barnett describes her product as a “show.” The biggest star is a 150×300-foot flag, large enough to cover an entire football field. It weighs 1,100 pounds. It cost about $40,000 when she bought it; she figures it would take $50,000 to buy a new one. It comes in 14 pieces – the union rectangle and 13 stripes – that are fastened together with side-release clips, like on a backpack.

She owns eight of them. Six live in a $270-a-month storage unit in Centerville, Utah, where Barnett and 50 Star Productions are based. One resides in North Carolina. Another dwells in Philadelphia. That one, weather permitting, will canvas the Nationals Park outfield Thursday afternoon. In January, once football season ended, it visited Utah for repairs. It has not been seen since.

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“Making sure she looks good,” Barnett said. “Put her makeup on.”

Barnett charges $6,200, plus hotel rooms for her staff, for each flag. Repeat customers, such as the Nationals, get a discount. The Nationals have used 50 Star Productions for several years, for opening days, July 4 and other patriotic occasions. One year, they rented a flag shaped like the United States, stars standing in for Alaska and Hawaii. Last season, they opted for two 65×120-foot flags, one for right field and one for left.

Some teams do not like variance: For the Green Bay Packers, for example, “we can’t do anything outside of a normal rectangular flag,” Barnett said. The Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers push for creative designs and alterations. Sometimes, something called “camo ribbons” are involved.

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The price for shipping an 1,100-pound flag from Utah to the East Coast, Barnett estimated, is $1,000. Storing flags in Carolina and Philly – “hot areas,” Barnett said – reduces cost. The Nationals’ flag will arrive to the park via truck Thursday morning. Barnett sends three staff members to piece together the flag and oversee the production. Teams must come up with 150 volunteers to unfurl and hold the football-field-size flag. The Nationals solicit and offer free tickets to military personnel.

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They will rehearse Thursday morning and perform the show before first pitch. The flag will be folded, carried off the field, loaded back into the truck and shipped back to Philadelphia. The Phillies will display it Monday for their home opener.

Between Sunday night, when the Kansas City Royals unfurled a giant flag, and Tuesday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers will rent a flag for their home opener, 50 Stars Productions will have produced shows at 13 of 30 major league ballparks, using seven flags over 10 days.

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Barnett did not imagine she would earn a living renting gigantic flags to professional sports teams, because nobody imagines that. “I’m an English major, for heaven’s sake,” she said. When people ask her what she does, she tells them she’s in production. When they ask what that entails, she tells them, “I have these big flags. … ”

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“They’re always like, ‘What!? That’s you?’ ” Barnett said.

Barnett started in the field working for Sky’s the Limit Productions and split to form her own company, specializing in flags, 11 years ago. Business has climbed steadily as teams have raced to keep up with one another. About four years ago, she jumped from 72 shows a year to 98. This year, she’ll put on 112.

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By Barnett’s reckoning, she owns eight of the 11 football-field-sized American flags in the existence. Sky’s the Limit owns two. Superflag, the first company to produce the enormous flag, still owns just the one. It also owns the world’s largest American flag, which is 600-feet long and once hung over the Hoover Dam.

Other businesses have moved into the flag-rental space, fulfilling demands few realize exist. GiantFlagRental.com sends you to Kivett Productions, which is run by Joe Kivett.

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“Joe is more of a card-stunt guy,” Barnett said. “You know those big pictures in the crowd that are made with little cards? That’s his thing. When someone asks him for a giant flag, he subs it out to me.”

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Kivett has produced card stunts for 25 years, executing them in India and at last year’s Super Bowl. But “I also manage the world’s largest Canadian flag for the Blue Jays, which is where I’m headed right now,” Kivett said Wednesday morning.

Three years ago, he moved into the flag business. “If I’m doing a card stunt for a client, it’s just kind of natural that I do the giant flag as well,” Kivett said. After he did a card stunt for the Toronto Blue Jays, the team asked for a giant Canadian flag. For $50,000, Kivett commissioned and purchased a 150×300-foot Canadian flag. It will be unveiled Friday at Toronto’s home opener.

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Once the crush of opening days ceases, Barnett will prepare for her most hectic time of year. “As soon as we’re finished with baseball, we’ll anticipate football season,” she said. “That’s like Christmas day for us.” She can count on renting her flag at least four or five times every weekend from September through January. The demand for her giant flags has only grown, and she knows this year will provide a particular challenge, a burden wholly unique to her singular profession.