ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota, a star, and the state's waterways are the centerpieces of the final design chosen for Minnesota's new state flag.
The State Emblems Redesign Commission voted to approve the final design modifications on Wednesday, after approving a slightly different general design last Friday.
The final design keeps a dark blue Minnesota-style shape with a white star on one side, but ditches the designer's original tri-color stripes in favor of a single field of light blue to represent the waters of the Mississippi River.
"I think it's an outstanding choice," said Ted Kaye, a member of The North American Vexillological Association. "It's so simple a child can draw it form memory, which is one of our tests of a great design of a flag."
Kaye says the elimination of the color green from the flag helps it convey its symbolism more clearly.
"Many people love the color green and talk about the lush, verdant land of Minnesota, but that idea of the land of the Minnesota is already represented in (abstract) Minnesota shape," he said. "The second challenge with the green in the flag is that it didn't contrast well with the dark blue. By eliminating it, you also now have a symmetrical flag that can't be flown upside down."
The panel last Friday settled on the design known as F1953, which featured a large star on a dark blue abstract Minnesota shape on the left side and three stripes -- white, green and light blue -- on the right half. In their final in-person meeting the commissioners tweaked that basic concept quite a bit.
They replaced the large star with a smaller, eight-sided one patterned after the star on the floor of the State Capitol Rotunda. They made the Minnesota shape more symmetrical by placing the indention in the center. They dropped the green and white stripes on the right side of the flag, doing instead with a field of solid light blue to honor the Mississippi River and the state's lakes.
"It just hit me. Why are we here? And if we go back to the first settlers, it had to be because of this beautiful river," Commission Chair Luis Fitch told reporters afterwards.
"I think we’re gonna hear from other states, and other experts around the world, first appreciating our flag, before we do internally. So, I feel it’s an A-plus flag."
Vice Chair Anita Gaul said Minnesota's process of selecting a new design will likely be copied by other states looking to update their emblems.
"The entire way the public has provided input and has guided us, and I think what we have ended up is a quality product, both in our seal and our flag, that Minnesotans are going to rally behind and be proud of," Gaul remarked.
She acknowledged that it will be hard for people who've lived with a different flag their entire lives to adjust to the new one, but she predicted it would grow on Minnesotans.
"By the time my kids are adults they’ll embrace this flag. They’ll hardly remember we had a different one before. Everyone will get on board."
In November, the state gave the public its first insight into the designs the commission collected over a month-long submission period.
The commission narrowed the field from more than 2,000 options in recent months with public feedback, facing a Jan. 1 deadline for a final decision. The Minnesota Legislature can ultimately reject the new design, but if accepted, the new flag will start flying on Minnesota's statehood day, May 11.
Kaye says there are plenty of differing opinions about the new flag, and says he knows plenty of people won't initially like it. Though, he says the simple design and symbolism should win over Minnesotans in the long run.
"I would remind them of what happened in Canada in 1965," Kaye said. "Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag and it was widely criticized. A majority didn't like the new flag for Canada. In fact, two provinces of Canada, Ontario and Manitoba adopted a provincial flag based on the old flag of Canada. Within a few years though, that falls away and by familiarity and by understanding the meaning of the flag, people will become enthusiastic about the flag of Minnesota and they will love it."
The new design follows calls to change the current Minnesota flag, which features the state seal on a field of blue. The seal shows a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field next to a rifle leaning on a nearby stump. Critics have called that imagery offensive for depicting a Native American being driven off the land.
Earlier, the commission also accepted a design for a new state seal, which features a loon and incorporates a Dakota phrase, Mni Sota Makoce, meaning Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds.
Republican lawmakers who sat on the commission as non-voting members say they will file a minority report to the legislature, asserting the Dakota phrase violates the law because it represents only one group of Minnesotans. They also want a public vote.
"Our minority report will contain the recommendation that the people of Minnesota have the ability to vote to approve this flag. We are a democracy after all," Rep. Bjorn Olson of Fairmont told the commission.
Secretary of State Steve Simon pointed out that in Minnesota the only legal mechanism for voting on the flag design would be if as a proposed constitutional amendment, and the DFL-controlled legislature would have to vote to that amendment on the ballot.
Rep. Mike Frieberg, the Golden Valley Democrat who authored the bill creating the emblem redesign commission, said there are four different Dakota communities in Minnesota. He also pointed out that the word Minnesota, which is on the current state seal, is a Dakota word.
The commission is set to meet one final time on Dec. 27 to officially sign off on its final report to the legislature, but no changes are expected to the flag design at that meeting.
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