Nearly every large city in the United States has its own city flag, but not every city embraces their flag.
This lack of city flag pride could be for a number of reasons, including bad flag design and the failure of the city government to promote its flag. However, there are a few cities that truly embrace their city flag – we call city flag pride. Let’s take a look at the top two cities and touch on a few runner ups. Hint: You won’t find America’s two largest cities (New York City and Los Angeles).
Chicago
Chicago runs away with this contest – it has been known for its city flag pride. Some believe that Chicago is the best in the world when it comes to its city flag pride. Locals say that the city flag appears on everything including coffee mugs, t-shirts, golf balls, hats, backpacks, soap bars – you name it. There is even an entire website devoted to posting pictures of people with tattoos of the Chicago city flag. Local businesses are known to get creative with their city flag paraphernalia, turning the stars into sports logos or various shapes based on the occasion (a few items shown below).
Pictured below is a Chicago Bears t-shirt
Pictured below is one of the many tattoo designs featuring the Chicago city flag.
This product helps “keep you clean in the city of big shoulders”.
Washington D.C.
Our nation’s capital might be an obvious choice here because it is our nation’s capital. Like Chicago, many locals get tattoos of the city flag and wear the flag design with pride. They also have an annual DC Flag Day Celebration. What you might notice is the common theme between the two flag designs; simplicity and symbolism – both of which are principles of flag design.
Also in Consideration
Indianapolis, St. Louis, Portland, Phoenix
Credit: Chicago Mag