One of these four designs will become the city's next flag. Image provided by Evansville Flag Project
Evansville's flag has been the same since 1954. It's finally going to be changed.
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EVANSVILLE — What do stars, a crescent and the number four have in common?
They are all elements used in the finalist designs seeking to be Evansville's next city flag. Each element represents various local characteristics and community themes.
Evansville's flag was adopted in February 1954 by then-Mayor Henry Roberts. Every now and then, groups of residents have pushed to change it.
City residents are being asked to vote on the four designs at the Evansville Flag Project website, evansvilleflag.com/.
The voting will be open through June 30. Voters can score each design from 1 to 10. Then on July 1, the rankings will be tabulated to determine the winner, said Jordan Baer, founder of the Flag Project.
The winning design will be revealed on July 3 in an event beginning at the Shirley James Gateway Plaza of the Pigeon Creek Greenway and ending at LST 325 on the riverfront.
"Over 200 designs were submitted by individuals," he said.
The submission closed on March 27, which Baer noted was the 209th birthday of Evansville's founding in 1812.
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A selection committee determined the colors, themes, shapes and overall narrative from what appeared most frequently in the community submissions, Baer said. A design committee came up with 17 choices, which were then narrowed down to the four finalists.
The dark blue, gold and white colors from the city's current flag were retained, adding a light blue or turquoise.
General themes represented on the flag designs include the four freedoms, the Native American heritage of the land, a crescent representing the oxbow bend of the Ohio River where the city sits and either five or eight-pointed stars representing a variety of historic events and community characteristics — including the Native people who lived in the area before the city was founded.
The “four freedoms” are the freedom of speech, freedom from oppression, freedom of religion and freedom from fear represented by the four columns of Evansville's iconic riverfront Four Freedoms Monument.
The colors also hold meaning. Dark blue stands for the waterways and natural elements present in the community. Light blue represents freedom and unity and gold represents the industriousness and ingenuity in the city's past, present and future. White will represent peace and prosperity.
In announcing the flag project in February, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said the new flag will be representative of the entire community.
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