The Chicago flag has been around for nearly 100 years. However, many Chicagoans do not know the meaning behind it.

Nick Colella, who tattoos at Great Lakes Tattoo in Old Town, started selling graphic prints of the flag that explain the symbolism of the flag’s stars and stripes.

“It’s a cool  Chicago history thing, a nice little souvenir,” Colella said. “People are so die-hard Chicago that it’s just a point of pride.”

Colella’s prints include a detailed description of the meaning of the flag’s three white bars, two blue bars and four red stars. The three white bars represent the North, South and West sides of Chicago. The two blue bars represent the north and south branches of the Chicago River and the four stars represent major events in Chicago’s history.

The historical events are the Battle of Fort Dearborn in 1812, the Chicago Fire of 1871, the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, according to Dominic Pacyga, a professor in Columbia’s Humanities, History & Social Sciences Department.

Colella created the design 10 years ago and was constantly asked by customers and co-workers to sell prints. He said his wife, Allison Attwood, who manages Great LakesTattoo, convinced him to start selling them.

“People are walking in that are teachers and they want to buy gifts for people that used to live in Chicago or people that do not live in Chicago,” Attwood said. “We were getting a lot of people who were coming in the door for the first time into a tattoo shop to purchase the print.”

However, it was not until Colella started tattooing in 1994 that he realized how many people are unaware of the flag’s meaning. He said customers would get tattoos of the flag without knowing the true meaning.

“It was always a thing—people coming in wanting the Chicago flag and I’d be like, ‘Cool, you know what it stands for?’ They would just BS the whole thing.”

Pacyga, who teaches courses such as “History of Chicago” and “History of the American City,” said he thinks the current millennial generation embraces tattooing, and many young people are very pro-city.

“[Millennials] rate Chicago very high with its ability and diversity,” Pacyga said. “Also, you guys do tattoos. The Chicago flag has been displayed throughout the city of Chicago and has become a symbol of urbanity, of living in the city and sort of local pride.”

Colella said his goal is for people to be more informed about the history of the Chicago flag and to know it as much about it as they do about the U.S. flag.

“People are proud of the city no matter what kind of political scandal or murder or garbage that’s going on,” Colella said. “People are very proud to be here.”