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SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Utah State Flag Task Force say they are thrilled with the thousands of designs they've seen so far as the timetable for the people to submit designs wraps up at the end of the month.
Sure, there have been some jokes and light-hearted submissions. Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, and a member of the task force, chuckled as he recalled one floating on social media of a dinosaur skiing down a mountain with the state motto "Industry" written underneath. Former Salt Lake County Councilwoman Shireen Ghorbani put it on T-shirt for him, as a gift.
However, there have also been plenty of thoughtful designs that represent the state in a more meaningful way.
"They have focused on what matters to many people or what they think about when they think about Utah," McCay said, appearing on KSL NewsRadio's "Dave and Dujanovic" Thursday. "This is a once in a generational opportunity for us to take a symbol that defines who we want to be, and how we want to represent ourselves to the rest of the country (and) the rest of the world. It's awesome."
Utah's flag has remained mostly untouched since it was designed in 1913 but state leaders argue it's time for a rebrand. The task force, formed from a bill McCay sponsored, first convened last year and began accepting designs in January.
Over 3,500 potential designs for the new Utah state flag have already been submitted — not just from Utah, but from around the globe. A spokesperson with the Utah Department of Cultural and Creative Engagement told KSL.com last week that many of the designs were generated through the website Utah Flag Machine, which offers all types of design ideas related to the state.
McCay believes close to 5,000 designs will be submitted by the time the state stops accepting proposals at the end of the month. The staff collecting the designs have enjoyed what they've seen, so far.
"A lot of people are really excited by the options coming in on the flag," he said. There's so much conversation about it."
It's possible a new flag could be adopted by the state by the end of the year.
The state made a "last call" for submissions last week, saying that it really wants more feedback from 21 of the 29 counties in the state.
- Box Elder
- Cache
- Carbon
- Davis
- Duchesne
- Garfield
- Iron
- Juab
- Piute
- Morgan
- Sanpete
- San Juan
- Sevier
- Summit
- Tooele
- Wayne
- Wasatch
- Weber
- Uintah
- Utah
- Washington
Residents can submit their designs through a website set up by the state for the "More Than a Flag" campaign or they can mail designs to More Than A Flag, 3760 S. Highland Drive, Millcreek, UT 84106. The deadline is April 30.
McCay said that anyone who has no clue how to design a flag can email ideas about what should be on the flag.
The process to sift through the flag designs will begin after the submission deadline on April 30. Members of a Flag Design Review Subcommittee — a group composed of Utah representatives and professional designers — will look at the thousands of options over the spring and summer to narrow the field down.
It's likely they will trim it down to about 100 designs before narrowing options further; however, the task force will have a better idea of what happens next after a meeting next week, McCay said. Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement officials said the public will be invited to comment when the flag design finalists emerge, which will likely be in August.
There have even been discussions of holding a special legislative session regarding the state flag as early as this November, where a new design may be adopted, according to McCay.
That new flag may not just end up flying over the state Capitol or all over the state in the near future. It may also end up on McCay himself. The state senator says he plans to get a tattoo of the new state flag if it is ultimately adopted.
That, unlike some of the designs he's seen, is no joke.
