SPOKANE, Wash. — The City of Spokane has a new flag featuring the same colors and concepts as the original, but with an updated design.
Spokane resident Derek Landers created the design that features a sun, a river and green for Spokane's natural surroundings. In the description of the entry, Landers said the sun represents the Salish word, sp̓q̓n̓iʔ, in reference to the meaning of Spokane, "Children of the Sun."
Landers is the art director of "The Great PNW," co-founder of Spokane Print and Publishing Studio and principal of his own design studio called Landers Design. He is a lifelong Spokane resident who is "passionate about where he lives and deeply appreciates its history and indigenous ancestors," according to a press release from the City of Spokane.
Spokane Public Library cardholders were able to vote on the flag throughout the month of April and voting closed last week. The commission had originally received 400 submissions for the new design from August to September 2020, and that number was ultimately reduced to 300 submitted to the public online for a vote in December 2020. The top 100 designs from the vote were selected as semi-finalists and the commission voted internally to produce 12 finalists from the set.
Spokane City Councilwoman Kate Burke suggested the city adopt a new flag in June of 2019. The flag commission met for the first time in December 2019. Over the summer, a TikTok went viral over one Gonzaga University student's hatred of the city flag.
The final vote count resulted after 10 rounds of counting in which the lowest ranked flag was eliminated and all its votes redistributed based on preferences. Ballots which failed to designate enough preferences to proceed past a round of counting were considered “exhausted” and removed from the count. Re-allocation continued until one design had greater than 50% of all votes.