The final eight designs up for a vote for the first official City of Norwich flag. Community members can vote on their two favorite designs now through March 14. (Photos from the City of Norwich)

NORWICH — The City of Norwich Flag Initiative Committee has narrowed down 88 city flag design submissions to a final eight, and are asking for the community's help in selecting the final design.

The final eight designs feature elements that are symbolic of the City of Norwich, such as six-pointed stars to represent the city's six wards, colors to represent the area's rural nature, and blue elements to represent the Chenango River, among others.

Community members can vote on their two favorite flag designs online at strawpoll.com/2ayLkAdxWZ4, by following the link or scanning the QR code on the City of Norwich Facebook page, or in person at City Hall.

Voting will close at 11 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, with the final flag design to be announced on March 19, and the official City of Norwich flag adopted by the Common Council just before Founders' Day in April.

Many cities across the country have their own official flag, but City of Norwich Mayor Brian Doliver said Norwich has never had one. The idea to develop one came from City Historian Agnes Eaton last year, as a way to make local history and celebrate Founders’ Day.

She said a few years ago she received a call from someone looking to purchase a City of Norwich flag. After doing some research, Eaton discovered the City of Norwich had never had a city flag. Then last year she happened to read an article about Syracuse redesigning their city flag, and it sparked the idea to create on for Norwich.

"It’s supposed to be like a community event, you know? Something to show community pride," said Eaton. "This is a nice way to show, physically show, some support for our community."


From there the Flag Initiative Committee was formed, and they began collecting design submissions from the community. Submissions were encouraged to follow five principles of flag design: keep it simple, use meaningful symbolism, use two to three basic colors, no lettering or seals, and be distinctive or be related.

"It’s much nicer than a committee just saying, okay, this is our design, and that’s it. Because there’s so many creative people out there, they might think of something that’s out of the box or that we haven’t thought of. So why not get the ideas flowing with everybody?" Eaton said.

Mayor Doliver said he hopes the new city flag will help to build a sense of community pride in City of Norwich residents.

"We have a lot of challenges in our community, and we are aware. We’re dedicated to working on these challenges, but we have to look at everything completely, and I think this is going to help instill pride in our community," he said.

For updates on the City of Norwich Flag Initiative, visit the City of Norwich Facebook page or NorwichNewYork.net.