Designer Brad Lockhart is going to meet with St. Paul’s Academy students in 3rd grade and to share how the “Bellingham Flag”was created on Thursday, February 23rd from 2:10 to 3 p.m. He will be talking about the flag’s meaning and history, the benefit of civic pride, and the process of flag design, followed by an overview of graphic design in general. The flag has become more popular since winning the Downtown Bellingham Partnership’s casual flag design competition in March 2016. Lockhart partnered with local businesses and worked with city and tribal governments to create this symbolic flag. Since its rollout, the flag’s popularity has grown, and you can see the flag being flown outside of offices, homes, and buildings. The idea of intentional symbolism is a topic that students in the Lower School at St. Paul’s Academy are familiar with and have applied to a project near-and-dear to their hearts.
The idea of flag ownership and symbolism is a topic 3rd graders have discussed with their teachers Miss Hammock and Mrs. Galvin. These teachers have helped the students search through the World Factbook to find the symbolism behind various flags around the world in facilitated lessons. Then students were asked to design a flag that represented their family and to write a description of the different symbols they selected. The students are excited to hear what Brad has to share, and they are equally looking forward to talking about their family flags with him. Learning is always more meaningful when shared.
Not only is the Bellingham flag visually appealing, its symbolism tells the story of Bellingham’s unique history. The four green horizontal stripes represent the four original settlements that joined to become Bellingham. The blue half circle represents Bellingham Bay. The three wavy lines represent the Nooksack word “Whatcom,” which roughly translates to “noisy waters,” or “water dripping hard and fast.” The lines also allude to the Nooksack Chief Whatcom and the mouth of the Whatcom Creek. When flown vertically, the flag is a depiction of Whatcom Falls. The flag’s two white, four-pointed stars pay homage to Bellingham’s coastal Salish tribes: the Nooksack and the Lummi (this write up was taken from Western Front.)
