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Walla Walla, Washington (U.S.)

Walla Walla County

image by Masao Okazaki, 29 July 2021

The flag
New flag design process
Previous flag

See also:

The flag

The Walla Walla flag was the product of a flag design competition in 2021. The winning design was submitted by Lindsay Tebeck of Walla Walla, who described it as: “The lines prominent in this design are representative of Walla Walla's notorious rolling hills, Blue Mountains, and many streams. The drastic yellow circle, whose color comes from the Washington state flag's emblem, symbolizes the rising sun. It both adds body to the hills by peaking over them and casting a reflection in interpretative waters below. The green in the hills and blue in the sky are also pulled straight from the Washington state flag.”
Masao Okazaki, 29 July 2021

New flag design process

Walla Walla WA has just announced a project to “refresh” its present flag. Included in the announcement is a good photo of the flag, of which only one copy is still in good condition.
https://www.wallawallawa.gov/our-city/city-flag-design-project
Masao Okazaki, 25 January 2020

The City of Walla Walla is seeking designs for a new city flag:
https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/local_governments/walla_walla/walla-walla-seeks-design-entries-for-new-city-flag/article_b4b7ecea-58a8-5236-9fff-75bd9a6f5814.html

All but two city flags are left to wave in Walla Walla as the rest have been retired. Staff is searching for a new flag design and invites residents to enter their ideas in a citywide contest.
The first official city flag, as far as records show, was designed in 2008 by Jerry Cummins, who retired in December from City Council and received one of the two flags left, city Communications Manager Brenden Koch said. Due to wear and tear over the years, Koch said, city staff decided to have a new set of flags made that will present a visual symbol of Walla Walla’s past, present and future.
Designs will be accepted from Feb. 3 to March 9. Artists can submit their designs through an online form, by mail or in person, according to a release.
Dave Fowler, 30 January 2020

The final six

Residents are voting on six new city flag designs (or whether to keep the old one):
https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/local_governments/walla_walla/walla-walla-residents-can-now-vote-on-new-city-flag/article_05ea17d4-cecc-11eb-9576-d33da5cf56cb.html. Here are the final six designs. Voting continues until 28 June 2021. Residents can rank up to three choices, and the three entries that receive the most votes will be submitted to the Art Commission to decide on the preferred flag. The final flag design will be presented to the City Council to decide whether this design should be used or if the city should keep the existing flag design.
Dave Fowler, 18 June 2021

The final three

The three finalists will be presented at the Arts Commission meeting Wednesday, July 7. The commission will choose one winning design. Option 1 features a series of Ws that illustrate a landscape scene. Option 2 features a symbol that can represent an onion, hot-air balloon or water droplet and includes other forms of symbolic imagery. Option 3 features lines that represent Walla Walla’s rolling hills, blue mountains and streams.
Dave Fowler, 5 July 2021

The final selection

WWW chooses a new flag.
https://www.wallawallawa.gov/Home/Components/News/News/1531/15?backlist=%2f

At its July 28, 2021, meeting, the Walla Walla City Council voted to adopt a new design for the Walla Walla city flag. The design will replace the previous city flag, which had been in place since 2008. The design was one of 78 designs created and submitted by members of the public during a two-phase design contest held by the City. The purpose of the contest was to engage residents by inviting them to participate in a city process.

At the request of the City Council, the members of the city’s Arts Commission reviewed the entries and voted for their favorites, which resulted in six finalists. Along with the previous city flag, these six designs were presented on a page on the city website, and the public was given an opportunity to vote for up to three of their favorites. A total of 1,065 electronic ballots were cast, with 2,754 individual votes.

The top three vote-getters in public voting were presented to the Arts Commission, whose members chose to bring two of the designs to the City Council — the design that received the most votes (618) by the public, and the design that was unanimously preferred by the Arts Commission, which received the third-most votes (460) by the public. After considering the two submitted designs and the previous city flag (which received the fourth-most public votes, 356), the City Council voted, 5-1, to adopt the design preferred by the Arts Commission as the new city flag. The City Council also voted, 6-0, to frame and display the previous city flag as a piece of city history.

Masao Okazaki, 29 July 2021

Previous flag

image located by Masao Okazaki, 25 January 2020
Source: https://www.wallawallawa.gov

On 13 December 2008, Alfred Diaz reports in the "Walla Walla Union-Bulletin" that the City Council of Walla Walla has adopted a flag last month. The flag is 3 ft. x 5 ft., blue with the city's seal in the middle. The flag will be displayed in different public places.
www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2008/12/13/local_news/0812147flag.txt
Ivan Sache, 17 December 2008