LUVERNE Minn. – The time has come and gone for the Minnesota Legislature to overrule the state Emblems Redesign Commission’s choice for a new state flag. The flag will be hoisted at state facilities the first time on Saturday, marking the start of Minnesota’s 167th year of statehood. The Commission chose the flag over the winter. The only possible obstacle would have been a veto from the Legislature. Republicans, mostly from change-averse rural areas, tried rallying opposition but failed. While the new flag becomes official Saturday, anyone who wants to fly the old flag won’t be liable to criminal prosecution. Several rural counties, including Houston in southeast Minnesota, have registered their preference for the old flag. The new flag, designed by Andrew Prekker of Luverne, was among 2,000 citizen proposals to the Emblems Commission.
Prekker. New flag his creation From Luverne, population 4,900, in extreme southwest Minnesota.
Prekker profile
Andrew Prekker, 24, has reveled in creativity as long as he can remember. All kinds of art fascinated him — photography, painting, clay sculpting, cinematography, creative writing, you name it.. He’s even tackled novels and someday, maybe someday, becoming published. He studied design at Minnesota West Community and Technical College 30 miles away in Worthington. By chance a year or so ago, Prekker happened across a website called “Minnesotans for a Better Flag.” He was intrigued at possibilities. “I thought I’d give it a go,” he told a reporter for Dakota News Now. “I drew a basic concept and posted it in the designated Facebook group, and about a week later the official Redesign Commission was created. It felt like fate.” His concept evolved through many revisions before his final submission. A constant was an eight-point North Star, picking up on the state motto, ‘L’etoile du Nord,’ in English meaning “star of the north.” He also wanted an elegant and simple design along the distinctive line of the New Mexico, Colorado and Tennessee flags. He didn’t want Minnesota’s new flag that would be lost in a crowd. He chose blue, green and white for Minnesota’s skies, lakes, forests and snow, although the Emblem Commission .later cut he palette to white and two blues — no stripes and no green. Prekker also worked a map of Minnesota into his design: “From the very beginning I wanted a stylized abstract shape of Minnesota featured on my flag in some way,” he said. “It’s rare that a state can include its shape in its flag without it being obvious or complicating, but I think I found a unique way for our state’s shape to stand out.”