February 28, 2025 - American Public News

ITHACA, N.Y. — “A great city deserves a great flag.”This is the rallying cry of the vexillological community, or those who study flags. Benjamin Anderson, a college student and Dryden resident, has adopted the slogan to bolster his effort to introduce an official Ithaca flag for the first time in the city’s history. Anderson, a self-described “flag activist” has spent the last several months designing variations of flags for Ithaca, consulting with friends in the North American Vexillogical Association about how to best represent the City of Gorges. Eventually, he settled on a waterfall-inspired design, though he has continued to tinker with different colors and designs based on that central theme. “To me, a waterfall is the most logical symbol for Ithaca,” he said. “It doesn’t belong to a political party or anything, waterfalls are part of nature. Nobody owns them. They are symbolic of the city.”Credit: Casey Martin / The Ithaca VoiceThe design, he said, can also double as an “I” for Ithaca. It’s meant to show water flowing over yellow and red rocks. Anderson acknowledged that there aren’t many red and goldish-yellow rocks in the area, but said they could represent Ithaca High School’s school colors. Anderson said he chose the gold specifically to represent The Golden Record, a time capsule launched into space in 1977 in an effort led by famed Cornell University astronomer Carl Sagan. He said the red in the flag could signify cherries, a nod to Ithaca’s claim as the birthplace of the ice cream sundae in the 1890s. The blue, he wrote in his proposal, represents Cayuga Lake, and certain shades of blue could evoke the Greek flag since Ithaca is named after a Greek island. Certain colors on the flag could correspond with Cornell University and Ithaca College as well, but Anderson said he wanted to avoid too many references to private entities in the design. Anderson was guided by a 2006 book by Ted Kaye titled “Good Flag, Bad Flag,” which lays out a list of principles for “good flag” design. Kaye lists simplicity, meaningful symbolism, 2-3 essential colors, being distinctive and avoiding writing or using seals. Some of the other options that Anderson has designed during his effort to introduce a city flag. While Anderson has a design of his own he intends to present to the Common Council, he said that overall, he wants the community to contribute ideas before the presentation. This way, the flag could best represent them. He said an initial meeting with Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo went well, but he hopes to field a wider range of design options for council members to consider. He invited residents to submit design ideas, proposals or feedback so he can compile materials for the council. That, he said, would give the council a better sense of what kind of flag locals want to represent them. While some may deem the flag effort a waste of time, a sentiment Anderson said he has heard often, he believes it could add more breadth to the city’s identity. If a flag is approved, he envisions it flying outside City Hall and adorning porches throughout residential neighborhoods.“Once a community adopts a flag or symbol like that, it improves civic pride from where people are living, and makes them more proud of where they come from, basically their roots,” Anderson said. “And it’s altogether a good thing for a community to have a symbol like that.”Ben Anderson and Nicole Wing hold one of the potential designs for Ithaca’s flag. Credit: Photo providedThe post Could Ithaca soon have its first official flag? appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.First published by The Ithaca Voice.

Daily Archives: February 28, 2025

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