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St. Petersburg, Florida (U.S.)

by Joe McMillan, 2 August 2001

By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
St. Petersburg Times, published May 23, 2001

St. Petersburg and its 300 residents incorporated in 1893. Support to adopt a municipal flag surfaced on a Fourth of July more than three decades later. In 1927, the city challenged its 30,000 residents to create a municipal flag. The city had its banner within two weeks. The committee chose an entry featuring a gold field, sandwiched between blue vertical borders. The city's seal had the sun, a pelican, a palm tree and a white poinsettia blossom.

On Jan. 17, 1951, Council approved a flag trimmed in gold fringe, its upper horizontal blue bar featured the gold words "St. Petersburg, Florida." The seal remained in field of gold, and "Sunshine City" crossed the bottom blue bar.

The city flag, redesigned in 1951 and again in 1983, now is flown at The Pier, atop various city buildings, inside Council chambers and on special occasions.

The present city flag was designed in 1983. The flag features colored bars, explained Ronald Whitney Jr., the city's graphic designer and the flag's creator: red and orange for the sun, green for the land, two blue bars for water. A white pelican adorns the flag's center. "I grew up here, and the pelican as part of our city flag speaks well of our environmental concerns. We take them for granted, but they are one of the original characters of the area."

submitted by: Joe McMillan, 2 August 2001