Pocatello officially has new city flag

It was called “the worst flag in the nation.” Since then, it has received national attention and been shown in national news outlets, including CBS Sunday Morning with Mo Rocca.

But now, the city of Pocatello is no longer flying the worst flag. Instead, it hopes to now fly one of the best.

Thursday night, the Pocatello city council officially adopted a design for the new city flag.

The design is informally called “Mountains Left,” which the flag design committee said will be changed.

The design was selected from 709 initial design submissions from around the world.

The flag committee has been working selecting and designing a new city flag for about a year and a half. The proess featured input from several flag experts, local design experts, and lots of public feedback and opinion.

Committee members said it was a long process and a lot of work, but worth it to have somehting so meaningful to a community.

“We feel exhilirated,” said Arlo Luke, one of the committee members. “Excited not because we got a new flag but we’re able to bring to the community something they can rally around.”

“Now that we’ve reached this point, we feel like we’ve done everything right,” said Kasi Beorchia, another committee member. “This is just confirmation that the process I think worked and I’m glad not to be going back to the drawing board. It was a lot of time and energy.”

“I feel like I came away having a better understanding of what makes a good flag,” said Adam Velasquez, also on the committee.

The design chosen holds a lot of symbolism. The three red mountains stand for the three prominent peaks in Pocatello: Scout Mountain, Kinport and Chinese Peak. The peaks also stand for the three “peaks”, or pillars, of Pocatello’s economy: industry, education and recreation.

The blue line running through the mountains represents the Portneuf River. The golden compass rose represents both direction and also reflect the city’s leading role in transporation and trade. The colors also hold meaning: white for the snowy mountain peaks, blue representing the sky and river, gold representing agricultural ties and red as a subtle tribute to Red Hill in Pocatello.

“I really like it,” said Amber Murray, from Pocatello. “I really think that the colors were a good choice and I like how you have chosen the three peaks that kind of represent all of what Pocatello is about.”

“I think it looks nice,” said Emily Hollingsworth. “I like the background and the mountains but I just think it looks different with the blue line. I just think that it looks like some random blue line right there, it doesn’t really look like it’s a river to me.”

“First impression, I like the primary color. I like how bright it is,” said Elizabeth Bolinger. “I don’t quite understand at first, but then talking to you as I see the three peaks, it makes a lot of sense. I don’t know necessariy that visitors would get it right off the bat. I think it’s a definite improvement over the last one though.”

“It is a piece of art so some people will like it, some people won’t,” said Logan McDougall, chairman of the flag committee. “But ultimately, I think this is something our community can rally around and get behind.”

McDougall added that he’s proud and satisfied with the whole process and how well the committee worked together.

The Mountains Left design was the public’s favorite in the public feedback and voting for the final six flag designs. It was the design that received the most five-star ratings. It also received high marks from vexalogical experts.

McDougall said no matter what flag design would have been chosen, you’ll have always have those in favor and those against it. But the committee is happy with the choice.

But those that KIFI/KIDK spoke to in the community all agree that it’s just a great thing that Pocatello will no longer have the worst flag in the nation flying over the city.

McDougall said there will be a flag raising ceremony for the new flag in the near future. That date has not yet been set. He said after that, the design will be readily available to the public for use. The design will be open-sources to the public, meaning they can use it on whatever they want. T-shirts, mugs, fliers, anything could be made using the new city flag design.

McDougall added that the city is going to try and contact Mo Rocca at CBS News and Roman Mars and invite them to come back and see the new flag design when its flown over the city.