Best: Billings
Hey, it’s the best of a bad bunch. I do like the blue stripes. That seal could use a little work though.
So, seeing as they call themselves the “star of Big Sky Country,” why not just sub a nice star for that thing:
Worst: Browning
It’s not a disaster. It’s simple. I also like how they didn’t feel they had to center it.
That said, what is that thing?
Maybe we could simplify this a little. There’s plenty of eagles out there on Google Images. How about a Native American one of those (to reflect the town’s heritage), with maybe a brown circle for Browning:
This town of 1,000 is on a Blackfoot Indian reservation, not too far from the Canadian border.
Nebraska
Best: Lincoln
Yeah, it’s basically a seal on a bed sheet, but it does have a few nice wrinkles (groan):
- The seal is nice and large
- It’s not your typical one, and has some genuine visual interest
- The royal blue background
That white thing? Why, it’s the state capitol. One of the few skyscraper state capitols out there.
Honorable mention: Omaha (though it does look a little like a Grateful Dead album cover)
Worst: Brown County
This baby’s actually pretty famous. It was voted “worst flag ever” on Reddit. In addition, somebody had some serious fun using the “aesthetic” here and applied it to some other flags as well:
What to actually do with this god-awful mess? Once again, let’s just use a few of those many elements:
Nevada
Best: Reno
Hard to believe, but this one is just a few months old. It was adopted by the City Council in April of this year, being rolled out to celebrate the city's 150th birthday.
The city had never actually had an official flag before, though this unofficial one dates back to 1959 (and is actually not that bad at all):
The design was the result of a contest, with 150 entries being narrowed down to 13 by a committee, then voted on by the whole city. The winning designer was a 23-year-old native by the name of Tucker Stosic.
Worst: Fernley
Repeat after me, “Flags are not paintings.”
It sounds like this baby might be the result of, not only a committee, but a committee that couldn’t make up its mind:
A contest for the city's flag was launched by the Fernley Arts & Culture Commission in 2007. The commission decided to mix ideas from the three top designs, proposed by Paulette Patten, Alex Lacko and Goldie Henderson, respectively
Here’s what that flag might look like it was a flag, and not a painting:
This town of 19,000 is in the Sparks-Reno Metropolitan Area, and was incorporated only in 2001.
New Hampshire
Best: Concord
Interesting. I like the off-center stripe, the very large words, and the rather unusual pic.
They also have a version that is sans words, which I must admit I do prefer:
Concord, with a population of 42,000, is the capital of the Granite State. It also just so happens to be the one-time home of the Downing-Abbot Company, founded in 1827, and makers of the Concord Coach, the coach that Wells Fargo made famous. Cool!
Worst: Milford
Honestly, it looks like a local telephone company logo from the late 1960s.
There seems to be no shortage of symbolism involved here:
- The gray of the granite which is extensively quarried here in Milford making Milford the granite town of the granite state;
- The purple was to represent our connection to New Hampshire symbols of the purple lilac and purple finch, the state floral emblem and state bird;
- The blue stripe was to represent the Souhegan River which flows through Milford.
- Over the blue river was placed a mill wheel showing the "mill fording" the river. Many mills were built along the river to take advantage of the power of the falls.
- The spokes and hub were to represent the town oval where all roads lead.
- The gold bell on the flag is representative of the bell in the clock tower of the town hall, which is a Paul Revere bell and has been part of the town since 1846.
Whew! You know, symbolism’s a great thing, but sometimes you can go a little too far.
Here’s my woeful, Microsoft Paint version of something perhaps just a tad simpler:
Heck, you could even throw in that wheel. Just put it behind the bell. Brown would probably be fine for the color. (I’m not going to try and attempt that in Paint.)
New Jersey
Best: Trenton
Strong colors, a little heraldry, a pretty simple seal … and I just love the bicolor background (why don’t more cities do that?).
Another state capital, Trenton was actually once the capital of the US as well.
Honorable mention: Jersey City
Worst: Manville
This city of 10,000 is about halfway between Philadelphia and New York. It was actually named after Johns-Manville Corp. co-founder C.B. Manville (the company had an asbestos factory there).
It has a large Ukrainian population, which may explain the yellow and blue. It also has a large Polish population as well though. Maybe we could combine their traditional colors – red & white – with the blue & yellow:
And if that’s too basic for you, feel free to add a “Manville,” or the city seal, or whatever. Just not all that stuff that’s on the existing flag.
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