Farmer hopes Palouse will embrace city flag
Moses Boone says his design is intended to showcase pride in the Whitman County town
A local farmer who had an idea years ago for a new Palouse city flag is now seeing his design flown around town.
“The purpose of a project like this is to build community engagement,” flag designer Moses Boone said.
The city has been displaying Boone’s flag downtown, and Boone said the flags have been available for residents to order starting this past week.
As someone who grew up in Palouse, Boone said he wanted to give the community something that represents the pride he feels in his hometown.
Boone said he was inspired to draw up a new flag three years ago after listening to a podcast episode in which experts spoke about what characteristics flags need to become popular among residents.
According to the experts, popular flags have a simple and distinct design, have only a few colors and contain no words, Boone said.
“I was curious if that was true,” Boone said.
The Palouse city flag is green, blue and gold. Boone said the green background represents Palouse’s natural surroundings and is the same shade of green as the Washington state flag.
A blue cord and gold cord are tied together in a figure-eight follow-through knot at the center of the flag. Boone said the blue cord represents the Palouse river and the gold cord represents grain and commerce.
He said all of those elements, from the natural beauty of the area to the importance of agriculture and commerce, are part of the experience of living in Palouse.
Boone said the knot represents a community of people who are stronger together than on their own.
He said the figure-eight follow-through is a very strong type of knot. For example, he said, it is one a firefighter would use to support someone’s life.
Boone introduced the flag design to city council, which approved it as the new city flag last year.
Boone said the public’s reaction was positive and it makes him proud to see them flying downtown.
But to Boone, compliments are not the true measure of success for a city flag. Instead, a flag is successful only if people proudly display it at their homes and recognize the flag as their own.
In recent months, the city’s residents have been debating the meanings of Black Lives Matters flags and Thin Blue Line Flags and whether they are appropriate to be displayed downtown.
Boone said city flags are meant to bring people together.
“These types of symbols create new bonds,” he said.
Anthony Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
