City of Portland

Use	Civil and state flag
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	September 4, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-09-04)
Design	Nordic-style Brigid's cross design with Blue stripes/arms double-fimbriated by gold on white esquarres, in the center a white astroid hypocycloid, on a green background.
Designed by	Douglas Lynch

The city flag of Portland, Oregon, consists of a green field on which is placed a white four-pointed star (a truncated hypocycloid) from which radiate blue stripes, each bordered by L-shaped yellow elements (esquarres). Narrow white fimbriations separate the blue and yellow elements from each other and from the green background. The official ordinance specifies a height of 3 feet and a length of 5 feet.

Design and history

City ordinance 176874, adopted September 4, 2002, designates the design and its symbolism. Green stands for "the forests and our green City"; yellow for "agriculture and commerce"; blue for "our rivers".^[1] Portland straddles the Willamette River near its confluence with the Columbia River. City Ordinance 186794, adopted September 3, 2014, updated the proportions and the Pantone color specifications: White, PMS 279 (Blue); PMS 349 (Green); and PMS 1235 (Yellow).

The flag was designed in 1969 by a longtime Portland resident, noted graphic designer R. Douglas Lynch (1913–2009). That version of the flag was adopted in January 1970 and at that time included, over Lynch's objections, a dark blue canton containing the city seal in yellow and white; in 2002 Lynch and fellow members of the Portland Flag Association persuaded the Portland City Council to simplify the design to better reflect his original intent.^{[citation needed]}

The flag's design ranked seventh among the flags of 150 US cities in the North American Vexillological Association's "American City Flag Survey of 2004".^[2]

Gallery

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  (1950)
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  (1958–1970)
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  (1970–2002)
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  (2002–present)