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Sierra Madre, California

image located by Ivan Sache, 1 August 2006

Source: http://www.coremg.net/newspapers.php?paper=pasadenaindependent&storyid=2803
Original photo by Terry Miller

Flag Description

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Flag Description

The city of Sierra Madre (10,988 inhabitants in July 2005; 7.8 sq. km) is located east of Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California. Sierra Madre is famous for its annual Wisteria Festival, which celebrates its old wisteria vine, planted in 1894 by William and Alice Brugman, covering today more than one acre and weighing 250 tons. The Sierra Madre wisteria vine is named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest blooming plant . It is also named one of the seven horticultural wonders of the world, along with the redwood forest in Sequoia National Park, Brazil's tropical jungle in the Amazon Valley, Mexico's Xochimilco floating gardens, India's gardens of the Taj Mahal, Japan's Yokohama rock gardens, and the gardens of Buckingham Palace. More details on the vine and the festival can be read on the Sierra Madre Wistaria Festival website. See also pictures of the Monster: http://www.sierramadrenews.net/wistaria/2k4/wist2k4page3.htm.

In "The Pasadena Independent", Dean Lee reports the unanimous adoption of the new, official city flag of Sierra Madre at the 11 July meeting of the city council. Hugh Von Delden designed the flag after entering the city’s flag contest held by the Community Arts Commission. The contest began in January and lasted through May. The contest ended with a total of eight entries. A prize of $500 was given to Von Delden for his design. It took about two months to complete the flag. Von Delden said he went around town taking pictures of what he thought represented the city best. “I gathered up all the photos and laid them out in what I thought met the feeling of the town,” Von Delden said. “It went though a lot of revisions but we ended up drawing in things like the old church, Kersting Court, the Mount Wilson Trail and of course a Wistaria Vine". His first draft included a religious cross. City Attorney Michael Colantuono said the city could not accept the flag for legal reasons so Von Delden simply changed it, a move most residents agreed with. The article has a picture of the flag proudly presented by its designer http://www.coremg.net/newspapers.php?paper=pasadenaindependent&storyid=2803.

Ivan Sache, 1 August 2006

"City Flag
In October 2005 the City Council asked the Community Arts Commission to commission a design for a city flag. An amount of $1,000 from the Community Redevelopment Agency was designated for this project. The Community Arts Commission decided to hold a City Flag Contest in which the Commission would solicit designs for the City Flag from the community. The contest began in January 2006 and ended May 31, 2006. The Community Arts Commission received a total of eight entries for the City Flag Contest. The attached design, created by resident Hugh Von Delden, was selected as the winner of the City Flag Contest by the Community Arts Commission and approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency for production."

More about the contest winner and a link to PDF Document with flag image here: http://www.cityofsierramadre.com/index.php?mod=community_article&id=47.
PDF Document with flag image: http://www.cityofsierramadre.com/docs_forms/files/flag_winner.pdf.

Valentin Poposki, 27 January 2007