Philadelphia ? Sales are booming for yellow ribbons as people across the nation are reviving the traditional show of hope for American combat troops’ safe return, retailers and manufacturers said Tuesday.

As yellow ribbons began popping up on trees, poles and homes in communities of all sizes, the nation’s largest ribbon manufacturer has added shifts to keep up with demand.

“Yellow — by far — is No. 1 right now,” said Nancy Schott of Berwick Industries in central Pennsylvania. She said the ribbons were selling six times faster than the No. 2 red, white and blue variety.

Sales of yellow ribbons have doubled at Paper Mart, a California-based distributor of paper products and office supplies, said advertising manager John Bechtold.

Retailers Kmart and Wal-Mart said they have seen nationwide increases in the demand for yellow ribbon and American flags.

The custom of hanging yellow ribbons was popularized two decades ago during the Iran hostage crisis and took hold during the Persian Gulf War.

“Every tree, every sapling, every light pole have yellow ribbons on them,” said James “Jet” Truman Jr., mayor of Valley Center, Kan., whose store ran out of them in short order.

The town of 5,000 people outside Wichita is where Pfc. Patrick Miller, captured in Iraq along with four other Americans, went to high school.

“It’s our way showing our support for him, his family and the rest of the troops,” Truman said. “I have a son over there, too. It’s close to home for many of us.”

Judy Doubt fixes one of four yellow ribbons she's tied around her tree and mailbox at her home in Beaumont, Texas. Around the country, sales of yellow ribbon are outpacing the more patriotic red, white and blue kind.

The war also is close to many in Middletown, Del., a community of 8,000 with several residents stationed in the Middle East, Mayor Kenneth Branner Jr. said.

“We made around 300 (bows), and we’re making more,” he said. “We wanted to have it so anyone coming into town, from any direction, can see them.”

Branner said the custom helps communities unite and gather strength during times of confusion and grief.

“We didn’t do it as a political statement,” Branner said. “People have different opinions about the war, but we all want the safe return of our troops, and we wanted them to know we support what they’re doing.”

University students in Berkeley, Calif., passed out ribbons during weekend war protests; nearly 100 people decorated the main thoroughfare with yellow ribbons in Saint Clair, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia; and Wal-Mart employees in Council Bluffs, Iowa, spent a recent lunch break tying yellow ribbons on every tree in a downtown park.

Yellow ribbons also adorned the front porch of the Palestine, W.Va., home of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, among a dozen soldiers missing from a convoy ambushed in southern Iraq.