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Allen County adopts new official flag after public design contest
Summary
The Allen County Board of Commissioners on April 4 adopted a new county flag selected through a public contest and refined by local designers; the winning design will be available for government and civic use.
The Allen County Board of Commissioners on April 4, 2025 adopted Resolution 04042503 to make the bicentennial legacy design its official county flag.
The new flag was selected through a multi-step public contest organized by the Allen County Bicentennial Executive Board. Emily Almodovar, the county’s public information officer and chair of the flag committee, said the process drew more than 380 image submissions and a public survey with 1,571 participants; the final design received just over 41% of the popular vote.
Almodovar said committee members used both subjective review and a rubric based on Good Flag, Bad Flag by Ted Kaye to narrow entries. She told commissioners the committee consulted the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and removed any designs that used teepee motifs or headdress silhouettes because those images would not represent the Miami people historically associated with the area. The committee also ran the top designs through reverse-image searches to avoid duplicating existing official flags or copyrighted logos.
The resolution and Almodovar’s description identify the final design as a dark-blue field — the same blue as the Indiana state flag — with a white pall and a centered white circle containing 20 yellow stars representing the county’s 20 townships. Inside the stars is an emblem derived from the center of the county’s new seal: the dome of the Allen County Courthouse, three turquoise waves symbolizing the St. Joseph, St. Marys and Maumee rivers, furrowed fields for agriculture and a line of trees representing local forests and wetlands. The resolution designates the flag for use by Allen County government departments, schools, businesses, organizations and citizens.
Commissioners read a proclamation declaring April 4, 2025 as Allen County Flag Day and thanked the designers and community participants. Almodovar credited local firms and groups that assisted with design refinement and the public showcase, and she said the flag exhibit will remain on display in Rousseau through April 11.
The board approved the resolution by voice vote; the clerk recorded the motion as approved with the board’s concurrence.
