SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 9, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A community effort to create a new state flag representing Utah today while honoring the state’s history has produced 20 options for Utahns to consider.
The More Than a Flag Project reviewed more than 7,000 flag ideas — including 5,700 designs — submitted since Jan. 19, when Gov. Spencer Cox announced the initiative and invited suggestions for flag designs and colors from Utah residents.
More than 1,000 designs submitted before the April 30 deadline were hand-drawn flags from Utah schoolchildren, according to the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement.
“I get teary-eyed when I think of all these people helping design the flag,” said Rep. Elizabeth Weight, D-Salt Lake City, a member of the Utah State Flag Task Force created during the 2020 Utah Legislature to help guide the redesign.
“The new flag will be one that people can point to and say, ‘I was part of the evolution of that flag,'” Weight said.
Task force members say creating a new flag offers Utahns a chance to have a conversation about what’s distinctive about the state.
Creating a new flag stems in part from a recent survey in which Utahns said they liked the current flag but didn’t believe it represented them, according to the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement.
“This is not an effort, at all, to take away our history. This is an effort to modernize a symbol of our great state,” said Rep. Stephen Handy, R-Layton, a member of the Utah State Flag Task Force.
The survey sparked a statewide conversation during which Utahns were invited to submit themes and colors that best represented the state.
The More Than a Flag project’s Design Review Subcommittee says a popular color palette among submissions was the traditional red, white and blue, with some designs also including yellow. Another color scheme contrasts sky blue with red-rock orange, paired with white to symbolize snow-capped mountains.
Elements Utahns ranked as most significant included:
- Utah’s pioneer history as the Beehive state, with bees symbolizing the state’s “Industry” theme.
- Symbols, such as stars or circles, representing Utah’s eight tribal nations.
- Utah’s varied landscape.
The Design Review Subcommittee considered concepts in June and July, and a few dozen designs were presented to a group of flag designers to create “flag ready” images. The 20 semifinal designs were posted online Thursday, along with descriptions about what the colors and images represent.
The subcommittee will select three finalists in the fall, and then adoption of the new flag design will be considered by the Utah State Flag Task Force, Gov. Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, and the Utah Legislature.
Utah’s state flag has been altered at least three times since 1903, according to the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement. It originally was called the Governor’s flag, and plans call for the flag to reclaim that name after a new state flag is selected.
