The winning flag design Credit: Courtesy of Burlington City Arts

Owen and Lucas Marchessault with their winning flag design Credit: Katie Jickling
A new city flag — designed by two middle schoolers — will fly in the Queen City. On Monday night, the Burlington City Council approved the new design, which was submitted by twin brothers Owen and Lucas Marchessault.

The new flag features blue, white and green stripes, and was chosen from among 138 submissions, according to Burlington City Arts. The public competition was launched in September to replace the city’s current flag, which was designed in 1990 and features a coat of arms.

The Marchessault brothers, both seventh graders at Edmunds Middle School, said in their artist statement that the blue represents the sky and the Lake Champlain waterfront; the white stands for snow-covered mountains and the breakwater; and the green represents the Green Mountain State.

The previous flag Credit: Courtesy of Burlington City Arts
In October, a committee made up of community members reviewed the designs and artist statements and narrowed the field to seven finalists. Then 1,427 residents voted online for the entries. The twins’ design won.

The new flag will be raised on December 31 at First Night. As a prize, the Marchessault family will receive $250, a flag of the design, and a one-year membership to Burlington City Arts.

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Katie Jickling is a Seven Days staff writer.

12 replies on “Burlington Has a New City Flag”

  9. Youre joking! How is anyone going to know thats the Burlington flag, outside of Burlington?
    New flag looks like an EU road sign, or a Charlie Brown shirt.
    Over 100 choices and thats the winner? Perhaps someone should have stuck with what they had;a good looking classically designed flag…better get your hands on the old flag before theyre gone.
    Next time they want a new flag, try a college student from RISD, not a middle school.

  10. If the mayor is promoting a contest to design a flag, then you know he is desperate for votes to keep his so-called political future alive.

    City expenses are skyrocketing, crime is overwhelming the cops, downtown merchants and shoppers are sick and tired of the homeless-by-choice thugs who squat in storefronts begging for change and assaulting or killing their colleagues.

    Taxpayers want change, too. Political change.

    The mayor – who blocks critics from his dimple-faced Twitter account – can’t seem to figure out how to run a city.

    The latest example of his ineptitude is the brouhaha over the attempted sales of the city’s cable-TV franchise. The process was rife with back-room dealing – no transparency whatsoever. The mayor used “recesses” during council meetings to hold illegal secret-negotiating sessions.

    The mayor unilaterally, secretly persuaded one of the four bidders to withdraw its proposal due to some still-unexplained “conflict of interest.

    City political leadership waffles on every issue, so it’s no surprise that the mayor can’t decide how to manage. The welfare-hugging class (dare we call them “progressives”) have used the mayor to their own ends – and he doesn’t even see it.

    So what to do? Propose a contest designing a new city flag.

    Tweet @MiroBTV and tell him to start managing – and to stop blocking his critics.

  11. These are two middle school-aged boys who won a really neat contest. And now their creativity and collaboration will be displayed on the city’s new flag. How neat!

    Why must a story such as this incite any sort of politically-based bashing? We’re talking about two kids who are stoked for what they’ve done. Why not leave it at that?

    Good going, guys!

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