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Ogden city flag options down to 3; decision expected before summer

By Jamie Lampros - Special to the Standard-Examiner | Mar 18, 2023
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This composite image shows the three top designs to become Ogden's next flag, as determined by the Ogden City Council. The top option came in first among council members, the middle one came in second and the bottom one came in third. Officials have also put forward variations on each design.
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The is the top-ranked design proposal to become Ogden's next flag, as determined by the Ogden City Council.
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The is the second-ranked design proposal to become Ogden's next flag, as determined by the Ogden City Council.
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This is the third-ranked design proposal to become Ogden's next flag, as determined by the Ogden City Council.

OGDEN — The search for a new Ogden City flag has been narrowed to three finalists, two of those submitted by Ogden residents.

The City Council began the process of choosing a new city flag last summer. More than 200 proposals were submitted. Since then, the city has been following a selection process to whittle the candidates down to a small group of finalists.

The City Council held a work session earlier this week to discuss the final candidates.

The three finalists remain anonymous for now in order to limit bias in the selection process, said council Communications Manager Brandon Garside.

“Our Youth Council started this project last summer,” Garside said. “They were participating in activities surrounding the state flag and during that event, someone asked if Ogden had a city flag. We did have one, but during the rebranding in 2016, it got put in a drawer and was never really used.”

Garside said out of the 10 largest communities in Utah, Ogden is the only one that doesn’t have its own flag.

“So we put together a design committee and reached out for submissions from high schools and then the general public,” Garside said. “We had over 200 submissions that were narrowed to 100 and then 10 and then five and now we’ve got the top three.”

The three submissions included a synopsis from the artists as to why they chose the design for their flag.

The first finalists said their flag displayed horizontal brown lines that signify railroad tracks. A large, centered hexagon symbolizes Ogden being the junction of railroads as well as part of the Beehive State.

“The train inside the hexagon is showing Ogden’s past as a train union point,” the artist wrote.

The second finalist said the focal point of their design centers on a white mountain range that symbolizes the often snowy Wasatch Mountains “that so many Ogdenites love.”

“This three-peak mountain range is set in a dark blue circle that creates a high-contrast image to draw your eye into the design,” they wrote. “You will also notice a dark blue triangle centered below the tallest peak. This represents the individual or the family that is here in Ogden.”

“I specifically chose the colors based on the color scheme of the new brand identity for Ogden. Blue in flag design can represent freedom and determination. The white you see in the flag symbolizes this sense of peace and harmony found here in the greater community of Ogden,” the artist said.

The third finalist said their design attempts to reflect Ogden’s relationship with people, industry and geography.

“Against the bold yellow background, representative of the hues of the sun, the harvest, and the famous Golden Spike, there is an ‘O’ with three undulating stripes of color,” the artist wrote. “The white at the top represents the snow-capped peaks of the Wasatch Mountains to our east. The bottom two colors, a blue and a blue-green, represent the Lake Bonneville waters that gave shape to the land, and the blue-green of those receding waters that became the foothills that anchor the city.”

The artist went on to say the teeth around the center of the “O” turn it into a gear, representing Ogden’s manufacturing history, and the beams surrounding can be viewed as both sun rays and the inner edge of a curving railroad.

“We hope to have a final decision made before the end of the school year so the youth council can be involved,” Garside said. “The council requested the three flag designs get feedback from the designer review committee and then we’ll go from there.”

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