The east Idaho city with the ‘worst flag in America’ now has a new one
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The following is a news release and photo from the city of Pocatello.
POCATELLO — The Pocatello City Council has put its seal of approval on the effort to raise a new and official flag for the city.
At Thursday’s City Council meeting, council members voted to approve a resolution officially declaring the flag with the working title of MountainsLeft.
“This has been a worldwide effort that has exceed our wildest expectations,” said Logan McDougall, Flag Design Ad-Hoc Committee Chair. “On behalf of the committee, I’d like to thank everyone who submitted a design or provided their input during the public comment periods.”
The design was arrived at after receiving feedback from the public, experts in vexillology, art, design, and history, and the Ad-Hoc committee. The flag is a compilation of several designs as well as important symbolism highlighted by the community.
“This flag directly acknowledges the natural beauty of the area,” said McDougall. “Like any good flag, there is also a fair amount of abstract symbolism such as acknowledging the area’s Native American history, our city’s role in transportation, and our local economy.”
Last week, members of the Flag Design Ad-Hoc Committee presented their recommendation to the Council. The final flag was brought to the City Council after a four-week long public comment period on the six final designs.
The effort to design an official flag started in late 2015 after the City was approached by residents who had seen a TED talk that highlighted the unofficial flag of Pocatello as the worst city flag in North America as rated by the North American Vexillological Association. The Ad-Hoc Committee was formed in the spring of 2016 and in the fall, the committee accepted submissions from the public. In early 2017, a panel of experts began weighing in on the designs and in March, the public had the chance to offer their opinion on all 709 designs. The effort wrapped up with a public comment period on a final six revised designs.
“I am grateful for the work the volunteer committee members put into this effort, as well as for the time the expert panel members spent on the project,” said Mayor Brian Blad. “I’m excited we’ll have a flag that our community can rally behind.”
An official first flag raising will be held at City Hall in the near future.