Two-Year Odyssey To Remake Utah’s State Flag Draws Jeers, Cheers And A Result Left Flapping In The Wind
A simplified state flag makeover trend, two-year task force, 5,703 public submissions, and creative enthusiasm to modernize the Beehive State’s image on one side. On the other: a sneering spawn of amateur vexillologists, quick to cling to a 120-year-old design — oozing a palette of patriotism to allay fears of polygamy — who are eager to argue change is heretical.
Despite all the vim and vigor, Utah’s great flag flap still is not ironed out. Perhaps making up for the dearth of public input over a century ago, the decision on what to string up our flagpoles is stubbornly unfurling in the form of SB31 on Capitol Hill.
Skeptical Utahns wonder why a change is needed. Is the existing flag being canceled by the “woke mob?” Like other politically tinged protests in the Trump-era, there was even a monster truck convoy, albeit laughably modest, revving their muscular engines in defiance against the artistic rendering.
The audacity to redesign drew 44,000 public comments and social media went ballistic. Too basic. Not enough patriotic iconography. A sign of the occult? The (now scrapped) 8-point star is a symbol of Babylonia goddess Ishtar, one keyboard warrior wrote. “Scrap this right now.”
“That looks like an emotionless, cold, socialist flag that manages to make a beehive look like a prison and our picturesque mountain into some jagged blades of doom all residing over a lake of blood,” another opined.
Other questions surfaced. Is the design too predictable? Why doesn’t the red represent the actual color and splendor of southern Utah? Is the color combo pitting Utah vs BYU too on the nose? Maybe it’s too much like Colorado’s flag? What about something that will reflect diversity, and technological growth, and appeal to the younger generation, like a company rebrand? One tech creative even hijacked the proceedings, offering a hybrid version of the new design with the rainbow colors of the Progress Pride flag.
Still, others, including one of Utah’s political poohbahs, are fans. “Utah deserves a flag as distinctive as its people,” Sen. Mike Lee wrote in a recent op-ed. “The newly proposed flag offers an opportunity to tell Utah’s story to the world in a way they can understand and remember.”
TREND MEETS TRADITION
Critics characterize the current state flag as the state seal slapped over a blue background. What’s worse, it’s virtually indistinguishable from roughly half of the other U.S. states, whose flags follow the same pattern.
The North American Vexillological Association rated Utah’s flag 58th out of 72 North American provincial flags. And Gov. Spencer Cox noted the vexillology community jokingly refers to Utah’s flag as an “S.O.B” — a “seal on a bedsheet.”
The challenge to make a change was spearheaded by Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, who championed a 2021 state task force to narrow the nearly 6,000 public submissions to 20 finalists.
“A good portion of the top half of the states have a flag with a blue background with their state seal on it,” he told a Senate committee. “We thought maybe there, with some effort, and with some design input from the public, that we could modernize our flag and make it so that it adheres to modern vexillology and vexillological principals.”
McCay has long argued that something as simple as a flag is an effective way to represent and advertise a community from afar. “I would prefer that we develop a brand and develop an identity that ties closely to who Utah is,” he told colleagues, “and it’s something that somebody might consider putting on a hat.”
Indeed, more stylized and simplified state flag designs have been a trend for years. The West, in particular, is credited with some of the best, making Utah an outlier. Beyond states, similar marketing trends have captured the imagination of cities — and an army of eager graphic designers have turned vexillology into a sort of cottage industry.
For residents opposed to the idea, they insist the exercise is an irresponsible use of taxpayer money to remake the flag as a brand or to sell merchandise. Utah already does that, they argue, with its “Greatest Snow on Earth” and Delicate Arch license plates.
“The whole flag thing is a waste of time, money and resources on something that will have so little impact on citizens,” Chad Saunders, a member of the Utah State Central Committee for the GOP wrote in an op-ed.
Longtime residents also take issue with what they perceive to be a slight on the state’s heritage and tradition.
“I don’t see why we need to cancel Utah,” resident Mike Brown protested in a committee hearing. “In an era of cancel culture, that’s exactly what is happening…Let’s think about our history a little bit.”
A COLORFUL HISTORY
Utah’s original state flag was created in 1903 by the Utah Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Taking six months to hand sew, the artwork on a blue background included an eagle, American flag, and now iconic beehive with flowers and grasses beneath it.
“This flag is really stunning for the amount of work that went into its creation,” McCay told the Senate during a mini-history lesson, complete with photos, that he delivered on the floor last month.
Initially dubbed the Governor’s Flag, McCay noted it was frequently shown off by then-Gov Wells, including at The World’s Fair in St. Louis in celebration of the Louisiana purchase.
In 1911, the Utah Legislature adopted it as the state flag. It was introduced as a bill on the last day of the session, McCay explained, by Sen. Gardner, who was married to then-Gov. Wells’ sister by polygamy.
The vote was unanimous in both the Senate and House with a total time, from introduction to passage, of two hours.
That hand-made original had most of the elements, and what McCay calls the “powerful symbolism,” that residents recognize today.
Still, when the flag was sent off to a manufacturer to be used in production, it came back altered and in color. Before adopting the new version in 1913, archival legislative notes show the Senate made fun of the House for debating what color the beehive should be. Straw colored or darker?
The new flag was put to ceremonial use when the USS Utah was christened. That manufactured version is essentially what Utahns identify as the current state flag.
Because the initial adoption of the flag came so soon after statehood in 1896, some lawmakers speculate the overt patriotic iconography, including use of the American flags, eagle, seals, and even the beehive symbolizing industriousness, was done on purpose — a demonstration to the federal government that Utah was not some scary outlier, but committed to country.
McCay has been determined to carry some symbols from the original flag forward. He says the federal symbolism, connections to native/indigenous people and the beehive were high priorities throughout numerous public sessions and surveys.
“Regardless of where you went, the design that you see (on the new flag) is a factor of this public feedback,” McCay told the Senate.
Since 2021, McCay and the task force have toured the state, gathered input from 2,500 students who created their own flag iterations, collected an additional 3,200 public renderings, plus 1,800 value-and-idea-based submissions.
The top-12 favorites all included a beehive in the center with a mountains motif, with most also calling out southern Utah with red or rust on the bottom.
The task force also tapped a design committee, including two graphic designers who McCay says “affectionately became known as ‘Betsy Ross.’”
TRIBES & TRUCKS
The new flag legislation is actually a substitute bill brought by Chief Sponsor McCay following feedback from Native American residents.
Initially, the design included an 8-point star, representing Utah’s eight federally recognized native tribes. McCay says he consulted a native resident, who was underwhelmed by the star, insisting it looked like an asterisk. He told McCay an asterisk is how too many native tribes feel based on their historic treatment by the government.
“The last thing we want is to feel like that on a flag,” McCay said the native resident told him.
It was a “gut punch,” and a compelling reason to alter the design to include a five-point star instead. Another reason for the shift: by representing the eight federally recognized tribes, it places Utah in the middle of a political conversation about which tribes are recognized federally and which are not, McCay explained. The change to five avoids that controversy.
On the modified design, the five-point star and five peaks represent Utah’s five historic tribes: the Navajo, Shoshone, Goshute, Paiute and Ute tribes.
The version selected from among the five flag finalists is loaded with symbolism. The blue represents the state’s traditions, from night skies and lakes to faith. The diagonal white peaks represent Utah’s snowy mountain landscapes — the peaks for indigenous peoples — as well as peace. The red band that dips is a symbol for the red rocks and valleys of southern Utah along with perseverance. The gold hexagon around the beehive and star represents strength and unity. The beehive represents community and Utah’s state slogan of “industry.”
Rep. Elizabeth Weight, D-West Valley City, was against the new flag until some of the positive public feedback got her on board.
“It’s not about denying history,” Weight says, “it’s engaging people so they actually understand our history.”
Other residents say it’s simply time to move on. The original flag “has served our state very well for a very long time,” Michael De Groote said in a recent committee hearing. “Where it hasn’t served well is when it’s up on a flagpole.”
At the same time, a small contingent eager to villainize big government voiced their uneasiness over the new flag. About a dozen people with the “Save Utah’s Flag” trucker convoy waved the current state flag and large American flags on the steps of the Utah State Capitol during a mini-protest in late January. The scene was roundly mocked on social media.
A SYMBOL SOCIETY ACCEPTS?
When he embarked on a flag redesign with state lawmakers, Gov. Spencer Cox did not have a certain vision in mind. Good thing, since the robust nature of public engagement meant a multitude of iterations and alterations for over a year.
“It’s impossible for 3.3 million of us to get the flag that we want,” Cox said before the legislative session launched. “It’s about us coming together and finding the very best of each of us. And as you built that one symbol, one color at a time, it all just makes sense.”
People close to the project say more residents got directly involved with the new flag creation than significant Utah initiatives such as the Salt Lake City International Airport remodel, Eccles Theater or Kennecott’s Daybreak development.
In early 2022, the flag task force had 5,703 flag drawings that had to be pared down to 20 semifinalists by last fall. Public comment then exploded, but that helped the task force whittle the 20 down to five.
If past is prologue, the new flag bill has a reasonable chance of escaping the Legislature and landing on Cox’s desk. The bill that formed the flag task force passed the House 49-23 and the Senate 26-3.
In late January, after the substitute SB31 was introduced by McCay, the bill passed 17-10 in the Senate. Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan credited his yes vote to a conference where all 50 state flags were shown and he immediately recognized Utah’s new design.
If the new flag is adopted the old one won’t go away. Instead, it will become the official flag of the Governor’s Office and continue to fly around the Utah Capitol. The bill also would codify the current flag as a ceremonial state flag that could be displayed during legal holidays, ceremonies, state funerals or any occasion deemed fitting and appropriate by the Utah governor.
Currently, SB31 sits in the House Rules Committee. It needs 38 votes to pass the House and ostensibly become law. So far, the vote in favor has been bipartisan, with Democrats bringing it over the finish line in the Senate.
Asked about its ultimate odds of passage, House Majority Leader (and sponsor) Mike Schultz declined comment.
Some critics have tried unsuccessfully to portray it as partisan, as the woke mob coming for the state’s Mormon heritage. But Cox is calling on lawmakers to approve $50,000 toward marketing the new flag to help end the debate.
“Five years from now, everyone will forget me and they’ll remember the flag,” McCay told the Senate committee when the bill passed out. “Hopefully, that’s a sign of an effective symbol that society has accepted.”
At least for another century — or until the vexillologists flex.
