Picture the American flag — Old Glory, the star-spangled banner. What emotions does it conjure for you?
Now look at the flag of Oklahoma City above. What emotions arise? Could you picture it with your eyes closed?
"You don't really see our flag much around OKC because it is essentially just our city's government seal on a piece of fabric," Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said at his State of the City address on Wednesday.
The city seal has a lot going on. It features a plow, a hatchet and stake, a pipe adorned with eagle feathers, a diagram of an atom and a circle of post oak leaves. Each element carries distinct symbolism.
"It's got a lot of history, and it speaks to our city's roots, not just the participants in the land run, but also the Native Americans who preceded them," Holt said. "And it speaks to our aspirations for the future. It's a good seal. It has served us well, and I believe it will for decades to come."
The seal isn't changing, but the flag is. The seal's job is to represent the municipal government. Holt said OKC deserves a second, separate symbol to represent the city's people and ethos.
"It is time for a new city flag," Holt said. "I might argue it's time for our city's first flag."
Although city officials are on board with the effort, the flag redesign is being led by a group of residents. One of the earliest members of the OKC Flag Project is Marek Cornett.
"There have been several groups that have been trying to do this for over a decade," Cornett said. "And they just have kind of not gotten off the starting blocks. We feel like this is probably our best chance at making it happen."
Cornett said that's in part because of momentum from Tulsa's and Norman's recent resident-led flag redesigns, finalized in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
"Seeing especially Tulsa adopt the flag, and it is everywhere there," Cornett said. "You drive through and it's in front of everybody's house, and they're wearing socks, and on their bumper stickers. It's just such a source of pride."
The OKC Flag Project is still building its steering committee, developing a design brief and mapping out a process for selecting designs.
Oklahoma City residents will be able to submit designs soon, but not yet. People can sign up on the OKC Flag Project's website to be notified when submissions open. Those interested can also volunteer their time, guidance or money to the project. Cornett said it will take all three to ensure people all across the city are looped in and involved in the flag redesign.
"We foresee this being a full community effort," Cornett said. "Which means going into classrooms and having pop ups where kids are able to color what their city flag looks like, but also just bringing a lot of awareness to it."
Cornett said it's still early days, and Holt said the process will take more than a year.
"If we move with efficiency, we can have a new flag in place for the Olympics," he said. "This process will take over a year because we want it to be inclusive and thoughtful."
When the resident group picks a final design, it will require City Council approval to become official.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
