Jonnie Taté Finn: County flag design a winner
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BY JONNIE TAT… FINN / Lincoln Journal Star
I’ve always wondered what it takes to win a county flag design contest. Patriotism? Artistic talent? A desire to beat out the elementary school-age kids who also entered?
From my talks with winning flag designers and various county clerks, I discovered five basic elements necessary to win such contests (Note: This list does not guarantee you’ll actually win):
1. Enter county flag design contest.
2. Think real hard for, like, an hour about what makes the county special. Popular themes include the aging courthouse, John Deere products and prominent figures, like the new Wal-Mart.
3. Sketch four or five of these special county aspects on some scratch paper (be prepared to kill a tree, maybe even a small forest, depending on your drawing skills).
4. Convert the best sketch into a graphic design and submit the result. Those without computers or lacking technological know-how should just mail in the sketch.
5. When you win, act surprised: “I won? Great! What’d I win?”
Though this wasn’t the list Melanie Mongar lived by when creating a design for the Saunders County flag, she did apply some of its broader principles and won the county’s flag contest — and $500 — in December.
“I grew up in Seward County, and I’ve only lived in Saunders County since 1997,” said Mongar, who lives in Swedeburg, near Wahoo. “So, I needed to do a little bit of research on what I was going to put on the flag.”
Mongar worked on her design off and on for about a week and went through about five drafts.
“I wanted some sort of a farming aspect in there,” Mongar said. “I was going for a tractor at first, but I ended up doing cornstalks. A couple other things, like different buildings, didn’t make it.”
With a background in graphic design, it was no problem for the stay-at-home mom to convert her design from paper to computer screen.
“I just chose a font I knew would be a good style on a flag and pretty much did the rest freehand. For the courthouse I used a photograph as a reference. It’s all a pretty simple process.”
Must’ve been.
Mongar, before beating out 68 designs in the Saunders County flag contest, also won a similar contest in Seward County.
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” said Mary Koci, describing Seward County’s new flag. “It has a green background, a picture of the courthouse and depicts a Fourth of July city with sparkles up in the sky. Industry and agriculture are also represented.”
Koci might be a little biased: Mongar is her daughter. Still, the flag design was the best choice for the county, she said.
“I think it shows the patriotism a lot of county residents have,” Koci said. “It’s kind of neat. Every state has its own flag; why shouldn’t every county?”
Koci, an office clerk for Seward County, said Mongar came in first out of about 60 or 70 contestants in September. The contest ran with the celebration of the county courthouse’s 100th anniversary.
“Melanie won a crock bowl with a picture of the courthouse on it,” Koci said. “When I saw the prize she got from Saunders County, though, I thought we gypped her a little — but I know she loved it.”
Seward and Saunders counties aren’t the only ones waving their own colors. According to Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, about one-third of the state’s 93 counties have flags.
In Southeast Nebraska, Gage, Saline, Otoe and Lancaster counties definitely have flags, but some clerks in Jefferson, Johnson and Cass aren’t sure if they’ve got flags or not.
And hardly any clerk knew what the county flag looked like.
“You want to know what it looks like?” Gage County Clerk Sandra Eltiste asked. “I’ll have to check.”
A few seconds later: “It’s got a blue background,” she said. “In white is the state shape and it’s shaded green where Gage County is. In the middle on a big green thing is a picture of the courthouse. It’s pretty colorful.”
Eltiste said the flag was created in 2001. She isn’t sure how many people submitted designs — maybe three or four, she said — but knows the county ordered 50 flags for $2,150.
Pat Bredenkamp said York County’s reasons for not having a county flag had nothing to do with the potential price tag.
“County officials talked about getting a flag a couple of years ago but decided against it,” said Bredenkamp, York County clerk. “I guess it’s up to each county if they want to promote their county for different things.”
Well, it’s not like York’s county seat isn’t distinguished by, say, a big, colorful balloon water tower or anything. Still, Dix said he hopes every county will one day fly its own flag.
“Each year about two or three more counties get new flags,” Dix said. “We’re not at 100 percent, but we keep pushing for counties to get those flags. I think it gives some historic perspective and identifies the uniqueness of each county.”
Reach Jonnie Taté Finn at 473-7395 or tfinn@journalstar.com.
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