Last modified: 2023-08-19 by rick wyatt
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We should be not surprised that many of about 36,000 municipalities in USA don't have their own official flags. Instead, there appear unofficial municipal flags in many versions that serve the purpose. It is the result of the political system of the country. Municipalities in the USA are final authority in their domains. That includes, among other things, the adoption and use of their own symbols. That's why the municipal flags in the USA are so different among each other - from simple seal on the white cloth to complex designs with tens of various elements in many colors. And yes, the name of the municipality is almost obligation. Why? The answer is - people's choice. Either directly - thru open competition, or thru voting in the municipal council.
The proper way to the official flag is that one that is leading to final council vote and issuing a proper document about it. But, that is very rare situation, although the recent events are changing that matter. However, my modest calculation is that less of 5% of US municipalities have official flags in this moment (August 2023), which is about 1,800. But, there are about 10,000 municipalities that are using unofficial flags in official capacity, i.e. these flags are not properly adopted, but are in use nevertheless. These so-called unofficial flags are not quite unofficial, because they are not produced by random people and waved without any reason.
In fact, these flags are produced (ordered to be produced) by the municipal bodies (mayor, manager, clerk, street department, or parks department etc.) for some reason that arose at given moment - parade at the Annual gathering of the State Municipal League, Visiting the Sister Cities, City Anniversary Parade, and similar events. Such events, especially if they are announcing at short notice, don't leave enough time for proper way of adopting the official flag, which should be at least one year, and usually one of the departments is racing with time and result is seal on white cloth or, if there are restriction of the use of the seal by the municipal code, the logo on the white or other monochrome cloth. And just like that - we have a flag.
Conclusion is that no matter what is their official status, we are looking for flags in use. The status of the flag is just a footnote.
Valentin Poposki, 14 August 2023
Editor's note: The names of the pages for the states and the district of the United States are composed as us-xx.html, in which xx is the postal code of the state or the district. The images are named us-xx.gif in the same way.
