POCATELLO, Idaho, UNITED STATES — The "Gateway to the Northwest" is replacing its former flag with a sleeker design. According to the City of Pocatello Flag Design Committee (↗), the four-color flag will begin flying near the City Hall at 5:15 PM on Tuesday, September 19th. 3-by-5 feet flags will soon be available for $45. Since the fall of 2016, residents were allowed to submit their design suggestions. The committee then reviewed the myriad of choices and narrowed the options to several ideal ones. According to Logan McDougall, Flag Design Ad-Hoc Committee Chairman, the final flag design was "created by a member of the expert panel using a compilation of several flags as well as important symbolism highlighted by the community. Before taking it back to the community, it was modified and enhanced further by the expert panel" (email correspondence). Graphics designers can access this webpage to find RGB (red-green-blue), Hexadecimal (HEX), and Pantone® Matching System (PMS) color codes for the flag's blue, gold, red, and white hues. A city of about 54,500 residents in southeastern Idaho, Pocatello is the county seat of Bannock County and is located 60 miles north of Utah and 70 miles west of Wyoming.
Pocatello's Flag Design Committee provides a detailed description: "Central to this design are the three mountain peaks most prominent to Pocatello — Scout Mountain, Kinport Peak, and Chinese Peak. In addition to representing the natural beauty of Pocatello, the peaks symbolize industry, recreation, and education. The compass rose is a directional emblem symbolizing Pocatello’s central role as a transportation and trade hub for rail, road, and air. In addition to its ties to transportation, the rose also points to our past, present, and future. The color gold represents the region’s agricultural ties and prosperity of the city. The lower white portion of the compass star is suggestive of the snowy peaks that frequent our mountain views. The form also creates an abstract arrowhead to acknowledge the area’s Native American history. The design conveys upward motion, signifying positive hope for the future. The blue symbolizes the sky and blue line near the bottom of the flag symbolizes the Portneuf River."
Before
After
After
● ● ● ● ● A Despised Design (2001-2017) ● ● ● ● ●
Shown in the white image above, Pocatello's text-happy flag design of the past was ridiculed by several vexillologists (flag studiers) and graphics-design aficionados. Embarrassingly known as the "Worst City Flag in North America" according to the North American Vexillological Association (nava.org), the old flag is featured in a TED Talk entitled "Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed". This presentation by Roman Mars received over 4,500,000 online views so far! The Flag Design Committee acknowledges that the flag redesign process commenced in the latter part of 2015 because residents saw the TED Talk presentation or video and notified city officials about the embarrassment. It just goes to show that contacting government leaders can be a worthwhile effort! The new design is sure to please residents and visitors alike — gracing flagpoles with a simplified and still-colorful display.
Did You Know? The city is named after Chief Pocatello (1815-1884) of the Northern Shoshone people.
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