I’ve lived in North Hempstead for almost all of my childhood, and for all that time I have taken pride in my hometown for its rich history, it’s hard-working people and it’s the natural landscape. However, one thing that has always felt weird to me is the town’s flag. With so much history and culture to draw inspiration for a flag on, this flag is particularly bland. It’s just the town seal on a green background, which makes for a very visually unappealing flag for such a vibrant community.
To explain my predicament a little better, flags are more than a symbol of a municipality or governing body. They are also a cultural symbol representing what cities take pride in and what they want people to know about them. There are great examples of flags like this across the world, and just within America, they are examples like Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and Washington DC (where I currently attend college). All of these flags represent the history, the people and the landscape of their respective city, making them into cultural icons. You can even say that there is an economic incentive for good flags, as it can inspire souvenirs with which to generate sales tax revenue.
In short, flags are important cultural symbols for communities around the world, and good designs will evoke a sense of pride found within those communities. So what do we replace the current North Hempstead flag with?
I have made a flag using graphic design software to show what North Hempstead could have. The orange, white and blue represents the Dutch, who were the first Europeans to settle the land we now call North Hempstead. The white bar represents the split of North Hempstead from Hempstead during the American Revolution – hence the resemblance to a compass pointing north.
The green star in the middle is a representation of the green light present in the novel The Great Gatsby, in which the main setting is the “East and West Eggs” – also known as the Great Neck and Cow Neck – of current-day North Hempstead.
Of course, this is only one example of what could be the flag of North Hempstead. After all, I am no master of graphic design, nor the only one in North Hempstead interested in the prospects of flag design.
If there are any residents of North Hempstead who would like to create their own design for a new flag for the town, I highly encourage you to do so and to make your designs known. It does not matter how proficient you are with graphic design, as the current flag of the United States was designed by a high school student. After all, the more talent that can be expressed within our town, the better it is for the town.
Marty Clarke
Plandome
