New Charles City flag design announced following public vote

To The Press

The public has spoken.

The design for a new Charles City flag has been selected following a two-week public voting period. The winner was announced this week by a task force charged with working with a professional graphic designer and element/color ideas suggested by the public.

“Charles City and its citizens should be proud of the design that they chose. It incorporates the energy of the river, the intense integration of agriculture in our community as well as the deep appreciation of the arts and culture that is seen and experienced throughout our fine community,” said Brad Bailey, who represented the Charles City Lion’s Club on the flag task force.

“The final result is an outstanding tribute to the entire environment that makes Charles City a special place to live,” Bailey said.

Four final design proposals were put out for public vote from March 28 through April 8, with voting done through an online survey or in-person with ballot boxes available at the Charles City Public Library and the Community Development Office.

Ballots were also collected from the Charles City Lions Club and Rotary Club members, as well as from members of the Main Street Charles City Design Committee. A total of 655 votes were cast for the public’s top choice and second choice.

The top vote-getter was Design “B,” which featured a white background with a flowing blue river bordered on either side by green and with an industrial cog or tractor tire, depending on your interpretation, overlaid in the center with an image of the Cable-Stayed Pedestrian Bridge inside.

The interior background of the cog is Comet orange, honoring the local school color. The date that Charles City was officially organized as a community, 1854, is also featured under the cog.

Design “A” was the runner-up in the public voting.

“We worked with many of the concepts presented to us by the public, but our goal was to tell our story in as simple a design as possible,” said Mayor Dean Andrews, who also served on the task force along with Bailey, City Administrator Steve Diers and Community Development Director Mark Wicks.

Spearheaded by the Charles City Lions Club in conjunction with its 100th anniversary celebration, the quest to come up with a community flag began more than a year ago when the public was invited to submit design concepts to be considered.

The intention is to fly the new flag, along with the U.S. and Iowa flags, on the 3-pole memorial in Central Park dedicated last May by the Lions Club. The Lions worked with the Charles City Women’s Club to replace the old memorial flag pole from 1969.

“Since there currently wasn’t a flag that represented the culture and citizens of Charles City, we set out to get our community involved in helping create a new official city flag,” said Bailey.

A committee of community representatives was assembled to view the design concept submissions and score them based on elements they liked. There was no consensus on any one particular design at that time, but various design elements were selected. Those included the cable bridge, flowing blue river, green fields, the incorporation of orange for the schools, the use of the letter ‘C’ or ‘CC’ representing Charles City, and possibly incorporating a tractor theme or industrial gear.

The flag process was then turned over to the task force for further design and refinement. Working with professional graphic artist Nancy Dercher, different combinations of the recommended design elements, shapes and colors were considered, with some undergoing a number of revisions. The field was ultimately narrowed down to four final designs for the public to choose from.

With the final design in hand, the task force will now work on getting the new flags produced, with the goal of having it flying above Central Park in time for this year’s Fourth of July celebration.

The plan at present is to also make different size flags available for public purchase at some point through the Main Street Charles City Office, but that will be announced once final details have been worked out.