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Toledo could soon have a new city flag

The new design, created by local artist Jacob Parr, was presented to Toledo City Council on Tuesday. Council will vote next week on whether to make it official.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Sitting in front of Toledo's city council chambers Tuesday, Jacob Parr has been working for six years for this moment.

"It's all leading up to this, I'm confident in the work that I've done, I stand behind it," Parr said. "From there it's just a matter of whether city council agrees with me."

Parr presented his idea for a new Toledo city flag to city council during its weekly meeting. It's a flag packed with symbols that he says represent what makes Toledo great.

"The yellow eight-pointed star is called the star of industry. Each of the eight points represents a facet of industry that built Toledo," Parr said. "And then the blue triangular field follows the angle of the Maumee River, our greatest natural asset."

Credit: Jacob Parr
Proposed new city of Toledo flag designed by Jacob Parr.

Parr says he went through over two to three hundred variations of the flag before he made this design, working by himself for five years. Once he settled on the final look, he took it to the city, catching the eye of people like councilman Nick Komives.

"This really is emblematic of who we were, where we're heading," Komives said. "We're just excited to see the optimism, what it will look like, how it's going to be integrated into our various institutions, how the community is going to use it."

Komives says the price tag to make the switch will cost no more than $8,500 in city money for the initial rollout, with plans for local private partners to begin production on other products like pins and t-shirts.

Following the end of the presentation, councilwoman Teresa Morris said that she and the rest of Toledo City Council were floored and their reactions speak for themselves.

"I want to say that you've given the city such a gift," councilman Sam Meldon said.

"When I first saw it, the spark gave me chills," councilwoman Vanice Williams said.

"Right behind us is the city flag, right? So I'm excited that, if we adopt that, to have it right here, to show how much of a spark you have been for our community," Council President pro tem Theresa Morris said.

Council will decide whether or not to make Parr's design the official city flag of Toledo next Tuesday at 4 p.m., and if approved, we can expect to see the flag's official rollout almost immediately after.

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