Flag of Salt Lake City

City of Salt Lake City

Adopted	October 6, 2020
Design	Blue and white horizontal stripes with a white lily in the top left corner
Designed by	Arianna Meinking and Elio Kennedy-Yoon

The flag of Salt Lake City, Utah consists of two horizontal bars of blue and white with a sego lily in the canton. It was adopted in 2020 after a city-wide contest to replace a previous flag.

Historical flags

Historical flags of Salt Lake City

Historical flag	Duration	Description
	1969–2006	A white background with an artistic rendition of Salt Lake City in the center.
	2006–2020	A dark green and blue bicolor with a modern artistic rendition of Salt Lake City in the center.

1963 design

The first adopted city flag was designed in 1963 by J. Rulon Hales, the winner of a contest run by the Deseret News. The first version of the flag was made by art students from Highland High School and officially adopted for use on November 13, 1969.^[1][2] It included seagulls, pioneers, a covered wagon, and the sun rising over the Wasatch Mountains in the middle of a white background.^[1] The center was in the general shape of a beehive, which is a symbol of industry and relates to the founding of Salt Lake City and its Mormon heritage.^[3]

2006 design

The second design of the flag was approved on October 4, 2006, by the Salt Lake City Council.^[4] Rocky Anderson, the mayor of Salt Lake City at the time, had sponsored a contest in 2004 to redesign the flag. Anderson argued that the "old flag was too exclusive and focused entirely on the city's Mormon heritage."^[4]

The contest, which received more than 50 entries, did not produce any designs that the city council felt had the "symbolic visuals that could be associated with Salt Lake City".^[5] They then formed a subcommittee to work with the mayor's office to create new designs for the flag.^[5] The final design was approved with a 4–2 margin.^[4]

2020 design

In May 2020, the city government opened a two-month contest to redesign the flag with a $3,000 prize for the winning entry. The city received over 600 design entries, of which eight finalists were selected in July by the Flag Design Review Committee for public review.^[6][7][8] The winning design, announced in September 2020, was created through the merger of two finalists created by Arianna Meinking and Elio Kennedy-Yoon from West High School.^[6] The design features a sego lily, the Utah state flower, in the canton amidst horizontal fields of blue and white. It was sent to the city council for consideration with the endorsement of mayor Erin Mendenhall and adopted on October 6, 2020.^[9][10]

References

1. Purcell, John M.; Croft, James A.; Monahan, Rich (2003). American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers (PDF). North American Vexillological Association. pp. 310–311. ISBN 978-0-9747728-0-6. OCLC 1011001515. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
2. "City Commissioners Adopt Student-Made S.L. Flag". The Salt Lake Tribune. November 14, 1969. p. B2. Retrieved February 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Snyder, Brady (December 1, 2004). "Salt Lake gets 20 flag entries". Deseret News. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
4. "New city flag shows Salt Lake skyline, Wasatch". Deseret News. October 7, 2006. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
5. Snyder, Brady (February 4, 2005). "Salt Lake flag designs just don't wow City Council". Deseret News. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
6. Larsen, Andy (September 24, 2020). "SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall selects merged teen-designed flag for City Council consideration". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
7. Stauffer, McKenzie (May 1, 2020). "Salt Lake City seeks artists to redesign city flag; deadline is June 30". KUTV.com. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
8. "Salt Lake City Flag Design". SLC.gov. Salt Lake City. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
9. Williams, Carter (September 24, 2020). "Salt Lake City mayor selects new city flag design; council to make final approval". KSL.com. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
10. Curtis, Larry D. (October 7, 2020). "Salt Lake City adopts new flag". KUTV. Retrieved October 8, 2020.