The People’s Flag of Milwaukee flag design contest has chosen five potential designs for the new city flag. Finalists for the competition were unveiled on May 14, where they went on display at City Hall. Voting for the flags can currently be done online at milwaukeeflag.com.

The winning design will be revealed on June 14 at a party at Radio Milwaukee. It has yet to be seen if the winning flag will replace the current Milwaukee flag, which has been deemed “one of the biggest train wrecks in vexillological history,” according to Roman Mars, a design expert. In his opinion, the flag is too complicated and contains too many components.

The original flag was adopted in the mid-1950s when a city-sponsored contest pulled images from multiple submitted designs onto a single flag. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett acknowledged that the flag is a bit outdated, but he laughed off Mars’ harsh criticism of it.

“Lighten up, man,” Mayor Barrett joked. “It’s not that bad.”

In Mars’ perspective, a good flag design is simple, so much so that a second grader could draw it from memory, and distinct, so that, from far away, any given person could easily recognize what is on it. Mars believes the current city flag has too many components, with too many colors and symbols to be memorable, and, given the crowded nature of the current flag, it is hard to make out each individual item from a distance.

In response, a local graphic designer named Steve Kodis commenced an effort to create a new flag for the city. Kodis has gathered over 1,000 entries and has narrowed the selection down to the top five. The Milwaukee Common Council will decide if the new flag will replace the old one.

The decision will be made on June 14 when the winner of the design competition is announced.

Images used with permission from JS Online.

The finalists:

Gallery • 5 Photos

This flag, titled "Sunrise Over the Lake" and submitted by Robert Lenz, shows the sun rising over Lake Michigan, symbolizing a new day. The blue bars in the sun's reflection represent the city's three rivers and founders.