Three months ago the City of Topeka selected four designs as finalist for a new city flag. As Free State Kansas reported, those designs elicited plenty of negative feedback from residents.
But much has changed in three months!
Topeka has narrowed their designs to three, and those three look nothing like the much maligned four that were unveiled in January. Smooth switch Topeka!
The city explains the transformation by crediting the four original finalists as the inspiration for the three new designs, which were created by graphic designers, rather than members of the public.
One critique I had in the previous article, was that Topeka had not included a description of the symbolism in each flag, and because of that had left the designs open for interpretation. Some residents thought one design looked like a pothole or a bullet hole, and another thought it more closely resembled a "steaming pile of shit."
This time around it seems Topeka provided graphic designers with a pre-made list of symbolism to include in the flag. For instance, all three include sunflowers to represent "Topeka’s connection as the state capital." Two of the flags include 'Golden City' symbolism, which both explain is a nickname for Topeka "because of the way the sun washes over the land."
Perhaps that symbolism is appropriate. These last few months Topekans were certainly hoping the golden sun would wash over their snowy neighborhood streets when the city said it would cease plowing. When the City began demanding residents shovel their sidewalks within 48 hours per city code, many Topekans voiced displeasure about the icy roads a few feet from their sidewalks. Perhaps Topeka should consider this flag design:
In all seriousness, kudos to the City of Topeka for realizing public opinion was not on their side with the original four flags, and changing course. That took some courage.
You can vote on your favorite of the three flags at topekaflag.com