Public to vote on city flag designs

Three designs have been chosen as finalists for the next city of Topeka flag, out of more than 300 submitted.

Now the public will vote to pick the winner, with ballots being cast by going online to topekaflag.com or sending text messages to (785) 425-4393, according to a document in the agenda packet for Tuesday’s Topeka City Council meeting. Voting will be open until 11:59 p.m. April 9, that document said.

City council members plan to hear a report on the Topeka Flag Redesign Initiative when they meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their chambers at 214 S.E. 8th.

Forge, the city’s young professionals association, last July announced it was holding a competition to redesign the city flag.

The city included on its website as part of the meeting's agenda packet a copy of the report that will be given at that meeting. It includes visual images of the three finalist designs and information about the symbols they portray.

The slideshow document identifies the finalists as "Design A," "Design B" and "Design C."

Each flag design features the colors blue, yellow, white and green.

According to the document, Design A includes:

• A white, five-pointed star at Topeka's location on the state map.

• A design of a sunflower, the state flower, recognizing Topeka's status as the state capital. The use of the sunflower was inspired by Topeka being known as the "Golden City" because of the way the sun washes over the land, the document said.

• Nine petals, representing the city's nine founders.

• A green arrow pointing to the white star, illustrating forward motion and giving a nod to the state motto, “To The Stars Through Difficulty."

The document indicates Design B includes:

• A golden center — also inspired by Topeka's being known as the "Golden City" — which can be interpreted to be a sunrise and/or a budding sunflower. The sunflower design recognizes Topeka's status as the state capital.

• The letter "T," for "Topeka," at the base of the sunflower.

• Nine stars, representing the city's nine founders.

• The sunflower pointing up — to the north, like Ad Astra, the statue that stands atop the state capitol.

According to the document, Design C includes:

• A sunflower design at Topeka's location on the map.

• Nine petals, representing the city's nine founders.

• The color green representing the fertility of the Kaw Valley and corn, an important agricultural product of the region used by the first Topeka flag, according to the document.

• Intersecting lines, representing the many intersecting pathways through Topeka, such as the river, highways and railways, that were important to the founding of Topeka, the document says.