Milwaukee’s Flag Debate Is Back

Like the sunrise over a lake, the debate over a new Milwaukee flag has risen. Again.

After striking out with his colleagues last year, Alderman Peter Burgelis is proposing a task force to pick a replacement for the City of Milwaukee’s beleaguered official flag.

Unlike last year, when Burgelis proposed adopting the unofficial but popular People’s Flag design, the alderman is proposing an open design contest.

“Milwaukee is a great City and deserves a great flag, and a process where everyone has the opportunity to participate. Though I suspect there will be many duplicate submissions, I hope that all of the design finalists will reflect our city today along with our culture, our future, and our shared Milwaukee pride,” said Burgelis in a statement. “This task force is the first step in building a flag that resonates with all Milwaukeeans ahead of the City’s 180th anniversary in 2026.”

The nine-member task force would include three members appointed by Mayor Cavalier Johnson, three members appointed by Council President José G. Pérez and three members appointed by Milwaukee Arts Board Chair Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs.

“This is more than a design campaign,” said Alderman Burgelis. “It’s a chance to unify Milwaukeeans around a symbol we can all stand behind – and fly proudly.”

A ranked list of up to 10 flags would be forwarded to the Common Council, but based on past experience, that is no guarantee that a replacement for the 1954 flag would be adopted.

The task force concept is cosponsored by Pérez, Coggs, Mark Chambers, Jr., Russell W. Stamper, II, Sharlen P. Moore, Lamont Westmoreland, JoCasta Zamarripa, Marina Dimitrijevic, Robert Bauman, Larresa Taylor and Alex Brower. The list includes People’s Flag supporters and opponents.

A report from the task force is due within four months of the resolution’s adoption, which could occur as early as next week. The proposal includes no financial allocation beyond staff time from the City Clerk‘s office.

A Little Flag History

Milwaukee’s current flag was designed in 1952 by then-alderman Fred Steffan and formally adopted in 1954. It ended a process that started in 1942. Steffan’s design is really a flag of flags. The artist, a member of the Milwaukee Art Commission, drew upon elements from a prior contest submission to create his flag. He told The Milwaukee Journal in 1953: “maybe the design’s 40% original.”

Steffan’s agglomeration features City Hall, Milwaukee County Stadium, the Milwaukee Arena (today’s UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena), a Native American in headdress (likely an homage to the Milwaukee Braves baseball team), a spike of barley (a reference to beer), a church, a house, a school, a ship, a gear, 1846 (for the year of the city’s founding), birds, waves, a lamp (a reference to the Milwaukee Public Library) and another flag (a two-star flag that is believed to be a nod to military veterans).

An official 2001 process to replace it resulted in 105 submissions for a new flag, but the arts board rejected all of them.

Milwaukee is now a decade into the latest attempt to replace it.

Milwaukee’s flag holds prominent place in vexillology, the study of the history, symbolism and design of flags. A 2004 survey by the North American Vexillological Association had rated Milwaukee’s flag third worst. A 2015 TED Talk by city and design-focused podcaster Roman Mars spotlighted Milwaukee. “Nothing can quite prepare you for one of the biggest train wrecks in Vexillological history,” said Mars of this city’s flag. This helped kickstart the push to replace it.

A 2016 unofficial design contest, led by Steve Kodis with support from then-mayor Tom Barrett and then-council president Ashanti Hamilton, drew more than 1,000 submissions and Robert Lenz‘ design “Sunrise Over the Lake” was picked as the winner and given the moniker “the People’s Flag.” Then came a push to make it the official flag.

The Milwaukee Arts Board, in 2018, voted to recommend the city adopt a new flag, in part because of the depiction of a Native American head in war dress on the current flag.

But questions about how inclusive the 2016 design contest was and a perceived racial divide over the flag’s adoption have plagued the formal adoption of the People’s Flag. Meanwhile, it continues to become more ingrained. The design can be found on hats, t-shirts, beer cans, flags and more. It’s been included in designs by the Milwaukee Brewers and several other businesses.

In 2019, the council punted on adopting the new flag and endorsed issuing a request for qualifications to design a new flag, but it drew no formal responses. The council never again debated the issue, which was expected to include a six-figure funding request.

Then Johnson, a one-time People’s Flag supporter, was elected mayor and brought with him a wave of council turnover. Burgelis, then newly elected, resurrected the issue in 2024, only for a council with 11 new members to again divide along the same racial lines. Johnson threatened a veto if the measure was narrowly adopted. A referendum was publicly discussed, but was shelved amidst questions about its legality. The council formally shelved the flag debate last November, the same week it was grieving the suicide of Ald. Jonathan Brostoff.

If the People’s Flag becomes the official flag, the costs of implementation could be minimal. Replacing all of the city-owned flags would cost $3,000, according to a 2019 Legislative Reference Bureau report. The flag also appears on all Department of Public Works vehicles, but could be replaced at no additional cost as the vehicles are replaced.

Disclosure: Urban Milwaukee’s sister business, Urban Milwaukee: The Store, sells merchandise bearing both the current flag and People’s Flag.

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