Utah’s state flag is getting a new look
*Audio clip is of USU U.S. institution professor David Munk.
Utah’s century-old flag is getting an update.
In June, 5,307 potential designs for the new state flag were submitted to the Utah State Flag Task Force. The committee has now whittled it down to 20 entries.
All flag submissions needed to follow various rules, one being to use the standard color palette: blue, gold, orange, red and white.
Each of these colors represents something about the state. For example, orange and red represent Southern Utah’s red rocks and the concepts of strength and perseverance.
Blue represents freedom, knowledge and Utah’s skies and lakes.
Gold stands for prosperity, happiness and the desert, and white is for Utah’s snow-capped mountains, salt, peace and truth.
Along with specific colors, flag designers needed to include meaningful symbolism and keep their designs simple — the committee wanted a design anyone could draw from memory.
These rules have left the committee with 20 final designs. Now, the only task left is to choose the winning flag.
This decision has been left to the general public. Utah residents are encouraged to vote on the Utah State Flag Task Force website by Oct. 5.
Cache Valley residents can also vote and view the flags by stopping at the Cache Valley Visitors Center.
Karina Brown, a policy analyst for Cache County executive David Zook, shared her thoughts on local residents voting at the visitor center.
“It’s to show unity. That’s also part of democracy to give our input, so I think it’s valuable,” she said.
After voting closes on Oct. 5, the top five flag designs will be reviewed by a subcommittee. Residents can expect to see the final flag design proposed to the Utah legislature by early winter.
David Munk, a U.S. institutions professor at Utah State University, said choosing a new flag is about giving people an opportunity to “feel connected to their government.”
“This seems to be a good opportunity for all of us as Utahns to consider what it means to be a Utahn and then to weigh in,” Munk said.
According to Utah State Flag Task Force website, Governor Spencer Cox and other legislative leaders felt a new state flag would represent “who we are now” while “honoring and building upon our history.”
Munk said beyond connecting citizens to government, the flag’s symbolism is an important and intentional message.
“I think symbolism is an under-appreciated part of any society,” Munk said. “It also is a way of communicating what Utah stands for to the rest of the world.”
The website also shares a poll run by Y2K Analytics asking Utahns about their thoughts on the current state flag.
The poll data shows that 42% of Utahns said the flag did not represent them, while 41% of Utahns thought it did. The remainder were unsure.
The website states the poll results were “evidence that it’s time for a conversation about who we are as Utahns.”
Although the selection of a new flag is nearly completed, Utahns concerned about losing the current state flag to history need not worry — the flag task force has plans to renew the current design as the governor’s flag.
-Alivia.Hadfield@usu.edu
Featured photo by Kate Smith