As Ann Arbor celebrates its Bicentennial, the city has coordinated a flag design contest to reimagine its rich history and expressive community. The first Ann Arbor city flag, adopted in 1959, was designed by high school senior Jean Winkelhaus. That flag featured the city’s seal placed on top of gold and black stripes. In 1974, the city adopted a new oak-tree seal designed by Sally Patten, showcasing Ann Arbor as a “Tree Town.” Today, the city of Ann Arbor is looking for a new flag to showcase its growth over the last 200.
In an interview with the The Michigan Daily, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said the celebration of the city prompted conversations about the flag and how to make it more in line with vexillological standards.
“The connection of the Bicentennial, we reflect upon our city history and its symbology,” Taylor said. “We observed that the city flag does not comply with pretty standard vexillological principles.”
Taylor said he hoped the new flag would be more widely used and serve as a way to unify Ann Arbor residents.
“It felt that (it wasn’t) used very much throughout the city,” Taylor said. “City flags can be opportunities for community building, for indications of belonging, for community pride.”
In an interview with The Daily, Steve Oney, a finalist in the contest, said he was excited to submit something that represented the city of Ann Arbor.
“As soon as I heard of the competition, I knew I was going to submit something … distinctive, objective, but also significant to Ann Arbor in some way,” Oney said.
Oney’s design features a diagonal blue stripe to represent the Huron River with a green surrounding to represent the environment around it. The oak leaves pay homage to the bur oak tree in the city’s current seal to represent the city’s resilience and growth over time. Oney said he hopes his design could serve as a source of pride for the city.
“My hope is just to have something that is easily recognizable and easy to be associated with Ann Arbor, and hopefully evokes positive feelings that people have for the city,” Oney said.
In an interview with The Daily, Art & Design rising sophomore Bree Anzures said she hoped the design could be aesthetically pleasing while also incorporating the most important aspects of Ann Arbor.
“The flag needs to have balance, and it shouldn’t be confusing, making sure it represents different aspects of Ann Arbor, including the University and the local community,” Anzures said.
Anzures also said it was important to acknowledge Ann Arbor’s history when designing a new flag, specifically Michigan’s Indigenous populations. “I feel it’s important for there to be a representation of the people that lived in Ann Arbor before us — Indigenous tribes — symbolizing regrowth and connection,” Anzures said. “You need to find a good divide between how Ann Arbor is a college campus (so) you have to find that balance between them and the people that are just living there.”
Taylor said once the contest concludes, Ann Arbor City Council will vote on whether or not to adopt the new design.
“Once we get the public input, the committee will make a recommendation to the city council, which will vote to adopt the new flag or retain the old one,” Taylor said.
If adopted, the new flag will be on display at City Hall and be available for purchase.
Daily Staff Reporter Ariba Hassan can be reached at aribah@umich.edu.
The post Ann Arbor unveils new flag design contest: ‘A fresh symbol for a Vibrant Community’ appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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