Christopher Taylor, executive director of the Museum of Boulder, stands in front of the museum’s Community Voices wall on Jan. 30. (Hayden Chedid/CU Independent)
Boulder’s skyline is unmistakable, its history well documented and its sense of place deeply felt, yet the city has never had a flag to visually represent it. That absence is what prompted the Museum of Boulder to launch a community-wide competition inviting residents to design an unofficial city flag.
The open call invites community members of all ages and backgrounds to submit designs, with the goal of sparking conversation rather than simply choosing a logo. According to Museum of Boulder executive director Christopher Taylor, the idea came from a sense that something was missing.
“When I first arrived in Boulder, I was looking for a flag,” Taylor said. “I was curious where a city flag was.”
Taylor said his time living in Chicago inspired the idea, noting that the city’s flag is a widely recognized symbol of civic pride, appearing on everything from clothing to tattoos. While Boulder residents often rally around the Colorado state flag or University of Colorado Boulder imagery, Taylor believes the city itself deserves a symbol of its own.
“We love CU Boulder—there’s a real pride of place,” Taylor said. “But we are a city bigger than a college.”
Rather than imposing a top-down design, the museum intentionally structured the project as a community-driven process. Emily Zinn, the museum’s director of education, said the goal is not branding but dialogue.
“At the end of the day, as our local history museum, we really see our role as inspiring civic conversation,” Zinn said. “A flag will be one avenue to invite perspectives and voices into that conversation.”
For Zinn, those conversations are shaped by the many ways people come to and experience Boulder, from longtime residents to newcomers still learning the city.
“Boulder has really different significance for a number of people,” she said. “Your experience, your entry point, your identity and your heritage are some of the things that influence that.”
Rather than flattening those differences, Zinn hopes the process will highlight them.
“The hope is to complicate the conversation about who we are,” she said.
The competition also arrives at a moment when Boulder is preparing for increased national attention. With the Sundance Film Festival set to move to Boulder in 2027, Taylor said the timing adds urgency to how the city defines itself visually and culturally.
“There’s a new spotlight coming, and people will be here,” Taylor said. “When they come into town and see the American flag, the Colorado flag and a Boulder city flag, I think that’ll be pretty awesome.”
Children’s flag designs are displayed at a drawing station in the Museum of Boulder’s Google Garage, where visitors are encouraged to create their own versions of a Boulder city flag. (Hayden Chedid/CU Independent)
In addition to a general design contest, the museum is offering separate categories for young designers and elementary school students, encouraging broad participation across different experience levels. Zinn said the project aligns with ongoing efforts to examine history and identity during the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary and Colorado’s 150th anniversary.
Submissions for the unofficial Boulder flag are open through April, with the winning design expected to debut later this spring. While the flag would require city approval to become official, museum leaders say its true value lies in the conversations it sparks.
“I hope more than pride people will have some reflection and complexity in their understanding,” Zinn said, “and that the flag will be a symbol that brings them back to that.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Hayden Chedid at Hayden.Chedid@colorado.edu
