The Allen County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted a new county flag during their Legislative Session on Friday, April 4, 2025.
Allen County Board of Commissioners news release:
Allen County Adopts New County Flag
Allen County, Indiana (April 7, 2025) – The Allen County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted a new county flag during their Legislative Session on Friday, April 4, 2025. Creating a new flag for Allen County was one of the many Legacy Projects accomplished by the Bicentennial Celebration held throughout 2024.
During the first three months of 2024, the Allen County New Flag Committee, under the direction of the Commissioners and the Bicentennial Executive Board, opened a flag design contest and received over 380 flag designs. The contest was open to anyone anywhere, and each participant could submit up to three entries. There was a multi-step process to narrow and hone the designs, which included a panel of 16 Allen County residents that ran flag designs through a rubric, a duplicate image search using Google Lens, consultation with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma for appropriate image use, and a three person design team that helped use the top images from the rubric to create the best representation of Allen County. From this process, eight flag prototypes were released to the community in the form of an online survey that collected public comment and a popular vote. Of the eight images, four were direct submissions from the flag contestants and four were amalgamations of some of the strongest design elements received by the Flag Committee. The online survey garnered 1,571 responses.
The image that received a 41% approval rating, which also was the commissioners’ favorite, was revealed during the Bicentennial Bash, a community celebration honoring Allen County’s 200 years that was held at the Memorial Coliseum in November 2024. After that, the Flag Committee worked with Asher Agency to help polish the image and create high resolution files.
The Board of Commissioners and the Flag Committee thank the members of the Flag Council who helped whittle down the bulk of the entries by using a rubric standardized by the flag design principles codified in a booklet, “Good” Flag, “Bad” Flag: How to Design a Great Flag, by Ted Kaye, © 2006, 2020 North American Vexillological Association.
Members of the Flag Council
- Kaitlin Binkley
- Preston Wallace
- Rena Bradley
- Kathleen Wold O’Connell
- Nora Nussbaum
- Andrew White
- Lois Ternet
- Patrick Rew
- Dave Sheets
- Jenna Zabona
- RasAmen Oladuwa
- Pat Freck
- Dave Sheets
- Bob Griebel
- Ellie Cloud
During last Friday’s Legislative Session, Flag Committee Chair Emily Almodovar recognized 10 individuals whose flag design submissions greatly influenced the final flag. The following people submitted a design that made it into the top 10 from the rubric process (listed in no particular order):
- Robert Borland (in attendance at Legislative Session)
- Bo Wieland (he had two designs in the top 10, in attendance at Legislative Session)
- Jacob Scheele
- Eric Eckman
- Jake Sauer
- Kevin Brooks
- Sidney Bingham
- Carter Richard
- Joseph Schipper
Jerome Byanski was also commended for submitting one of the most influential flag designs as one of his designs provided direct inspiration for the ring of stars and use of the central motif in the county’s seal.
Commissioner Therese Brown read Resolution 04-04-25-03, Dated April 4, 2025, that described the decision process and the new design. Through unanimous vote, Commissioners Ron Turpin and Rich Beck joined her in accepting the Resolution for Allen County’s new official flag.
Community Invited to Flag Showcase
Flag Design Showcase
April 1, 2025 – April 11, 2025
Top flag designs are on display through the end of this week during business hours in the lobby of the Rousseau Centre. Stop by and stroll through the selection from creative to quirky. See what motifs people came up with to represent Allen County. The building is open to the public Monday – Friday, from 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM.
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