Ready to wave the flag high for Las Vegas? Well, you can show some pride in our city with an official banner. You probably didn’t even know we had one, did you?
🤔 When Did Las Vegas Get a Flag?
The City of Las Vegas flag was designed by Kenneth A. Bouton, who won a contest authorized by the Las Vegas City Council in 1965. It’s worth noting that Bouton was an assistant to the city manager. The flag was formally adopted in 1968.
🧐 What Does the Flag Represent?
The dominant royal blue color represents the Nevada sky and the diagonal gray stripe symbolizes the mining industry associated with our Silver State nickname. The seal includes stuff that’s mostly outside city limits: the Hoover Dam, a Joshua tree, desert landscapes, and Sunrise Mountain. A jet and three skyscrapers (which don’t look like anything in Vegas) symbolize tourism.
😬 Is it … Pretty?
You decide. In a survey of flag experts, the City of Las Vegas flag received a score of 3.61 out of 10 ☹️ and placed 93rd. (The top three were Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Denver.) Personally, I think the Vegas flag is all sorts of meh. The grey strip looks like a stretch of highway to me, symbolizing our city’s love affair with traffic — so maybe it fits. And those skyscrapers look like something that belongs in New York or Chicago.
🤠 Any Other Las Vegas Flags?
Sorta. As discussed in our City Cast Las Vegas episode on the local influence of Latter-day Saints, a replica of the Pioneer Heritage Flag flies at the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park, the first non-Indigenous settlement in our city. Although best we can tell, it was never adopted as an official flag for what would become the City of Las Vegas.
- Nevada has a flag too. It shares a similar color, but has a more effective, simpler design. [Hey Las Vegas ✍️]
