No more ugliest city flag in the nation (Pocatello, Idaho Falls: 2015, city hall)

[banjomike]

Pocatello never had an official city flag until 1999, when the Chamber of Commerce decided the city needed one to fly at the airport, the city building, and other places.

No one on the Chamber knew anything about flags, so they farmed the job out to an ad agency that created the city's slogan: "Proud to be Pocatello". This agency created some tourist brochures, so to tie the flag in with the rest of the advertising materials, they came up with a flag that used design elements from the brochures and the other stuff.

Eventually, the only place where the flag was flown was above the city sanitation plant. For good reason- the flag was uglier than Rosemary's Baby. But no one paid any attention until an independent radio producer and talk show host, Roman Mars, gave a TED talk where he dubbed the flag to be the worst city flag in North America in 2015.

He was right- the flag was a mashup of design elements and colors that may have worked fine in a printed brochure, but sure had a fight on a flag. You can see it in the article below.

Pocatello launches effort to replace famously bad city flag with new, better one | The Spokesman-Review

After the embarrassment, some folks put together an ad hoc committee to come up with a more handsome flag. They started a competition for a new design that was open to all, and posted all the designs they received on a website, and let the citizens vote on the finalists after a preliminary decision was made by the committee.
Mars was invited to Pocatello to give a talk to the committee and anyone who was interested.


The number of submissions was huge; school kids, graphic designers, quilters, and folks of all kinds sent in their designs. Here are a few:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...ag&FORM=IDMHDL

(mostly up at the top. Search being what it is, there are lots of others on this page.)

There were about 200 final designs that were all displayed at the city hall, and the citizens voted on their favorite. Pocatello has quite a rich history that dates back to the earliest French fur traders and trappers, has strong ties to the nearby Shoshone-Bannock tribes, and was an early crossroads of the intermountain west. All of these elements and many others all were represented in various ways and designs.

In the end, this one was the winner. It was chosen yesterday.

It's in the middle row, on the right.

City of Pocatello Flag Design Contest

I think it's a very handsome design that represents the city very well. The best thing about it is it will look very good flying or draped on a staff, and the design is both bright and dignified. I can see why it was the favorite- I would have voted for it too, although there were lots of others almost as good.

[banjomike]

Idaho Falls has had a city flag for a long time.
It was originally designed as a letterhead, used on official city documents and letters, and became the city seal.

it mimics the state seal, which is found on our state flag, but the background is white instead of blue, like the state flag.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...FD9FE4EC12364F

Idaho Falls gets a lot of tourists passing through year round. A few years ago, the city hired an expert to help improve the entrances to the city to make a stop more inviting, and once begun, the project became an ongoing thing. Now, when a visitor comes, there is signage that directs them to all the major locations and attractions that are in the city. These signs can steer a visitor to the hospitals, the city swimming pool, the zoo, our largest city park, and other places.

So a stranger doesn't need to stop and ask directions when they pull off the interstate. The other highways have the signage, but the most used exit off the Interstate, the one that leads to Broadway, the major arterial street, now as a very nice little waterfall that replaced a run-down old rusty metal storage building that was once the first thing a stranger saw.

And the effort in making the city more attractive and much easier to drive around in has really paid off. Visitors now spend more time and money here than ever before, and return visits are way up from the past.

Idaho Falls won't ever be a tourist destination city, but the improvements have made it nicer for the residents, too, and have created a lot of civic pride. Following Pocatello's lead, Idaho Falls has recently adopted a new logo that is used everywhere.
it can be seen on the official city website:
https://www.idahofallsidaho.gov/27/Government

This has made me wonder what other Idaho cities have for their flags, and what the efforts have been to make their city more distinctive and attractive to strangers.

This movement is catching on in other places. Fargo also had a pretty ugly city flag, and they led a similar contest for a new design.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...ag&FORM=IRIBEP