With the anti-gay assaults at Puzzles Lounge, it seemed like a good time for First Unitarian in New Bedford to fly a rainbow flag, as a sign of solidarity with the gay and lesbian community in New Bedford. So today, Carol and I walked down to Brewer’s Flag on 77 Forest Street.

We rounded the corner from County St. onto Forest St. “I wonder which building it is?” I said. I’m always worried we’re going to miss whatever building we’re looking for.

“I’ll bet it’s the one with all the flags,” said Carol, and sure enough, I could see a number of brightly colored flags just down the street. We got closer, and Carol added, “What a cute little building!”

Brewer’s Flag is in a lovely, friendly little brick industrial building tucked into a residential neighborhood. The building is right on the sidewalk, and you walk up five steep granite steps to get to the door. Once inside, we found ourselves in a high, bright little anteroom, from which you could see the back room where they sew the custom flags.

The owner, Penny Brewer, said she had three sizes of rainbow flags in stock: 2 x 3 ft., 3 x 5 ft., and 4 x 6 ft. I asked if she didn’t have anything larger. She might have a 6 x 10 ft. one in stock, but she doubted it. While she looked in her stock, Carol and I looked at all the flag paraphanelia — flagpoles, flagpole brackets, flagpole ornaments — and the flag decals, flag posters, sample flags of every sort, wind socks (Carol has been looking for a nice fish wind sock), holiday flags, Azorean flags, everything to do with flags.

The biggest rainbow flag in stock was 4 x 6 ft. Penny Brewer unfolded it for us to look at. Carol thought it looked big enough. “It looks bigger in the store,” Penny Brewer warned. The flag will probably be dwarfed by our huge granite church building, but we’ll figure something out. At the moment, the most important thing is to just get the rainbow flag flying.

On our way out, Carol looked back up at the building housing Brewer Flag. “What other city could you find a neat little flag store in a great little brick industrial building within walking distance of where we live?” she said. “I like New Bedford.”

So do I.