JUNE 8, 2026 — The City Commission of Oregon City, Oregon, is scheduled to vote on a new flag design on June 17, following a redesign process initiated to replace a highly cluttered and largely abandoned predecessor.
Adopted in 1989, the current banner features a complex municipal seal on a blue field containing a dense hodgepodge of imagery, including an ox-drawn wagon, a schooner, a salmon, and the face of the city’s founder, John McLoughlin.
This layout made the flag nearly impossible to distinguish from a distance, leading to its absence from both the city’s website and the grounds of City Hall.
Local business owners and members of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) lobbied for the change, arguing that a functional flag must prioritize simplicity and recognizable symbolism over an exhaustive historical narrative.
To guide the overhaul, municipal authorities launched an initial public survey to gather community feedback on preferred visual elements and colours. The compiled data was passed to NAVA volunteers, who developed several stylized design concepts.
These submissions were subsequently reviewed by municipal staff and Indigenous representatives, including the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, to ensure the imagery remained respectful of the region’s complex history. This collaboration yielded five finalist designs, which the city has presented to the public for final feedback.
The proposals intentionally shift away from realistic depictions in favour of geometric abstractions, adhering to vexillological principles which dictate that a good flag should be simple enough to draw from memory and avoid trying to represent every aspect of a community.
Among the top choices under review are concepts that translate local geographic and architectural landmarks into minimalist graphics.
One option features a stylized representation of the Oregon City Municipal Elevator alongside a green square and stripe, which evoke the local promenade and historic town squares while simultaneously nodding to the traditional fishing platforms used by regional Tribes.
Other leading designs focus on local waterways, utilizing abstract blue and white shapes to represent Willamette Falls and the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers, including an aerial-perspective variant that uses a horseshoe arc to symbolize the natural structure of the falls.
The City Commission will review the accumulated public commentary alongside the designs during the upcoming June vote, with local officials aiming to have the final ensign flying by early July.
Image: City of Oregon City
