Sumner Adopts Official Flag

At the May 16 city council meeting, the official Sumner flag made a special appearance before its debut at the Association of Washington Cities Parade of Flags this June.

The flag features three colors and represents Sumner’s heritage: yellow for daffodils, red for rhubarb and green for grass and surrounding farmland.

“We wanted something bright and colorful,” said Carmen Palmer, head of communications for Sumner. Palmer and Police Chief John Galle presented the flag at last night’s meeting. “We wanted our flag to stand out.”

Last year, a group of citizens raised money to design and create the flag during the Autumn Evening event. Julie Moltke presented the money to the city council – they couldn’t raise enough at the event, so each Sumner councilmember gave from their own pockets to finish the project.

The group designed and created the flag last year, but when it went to the printer, they realized there was a mistake. There was no time to change it before last year’s parade.

“The flag maker made our first draft, not the final,” said Palmer. “The maker just remade the correct flag at no extra charge.”

The new flag has more subdued colors than the first draft.

“This looks a lot less like Bolivia than the last one,” joked councilmember Steve Allsop.