North Tonawanda

North Tonawanda
Country	United States
State	New York
Adopted	July 8, 2025
Designed by	Jeremy Snaidecki
Proportions	3:5

The flag of North Tonawanda, New York, is a blue background with a yellow border surrounding the flag and a seal in the center.

Symbolism

The flag features a blue and yellow color scheme with a large anchor as its central focal point, set against a sunrise backdrop. The sunrise symbolizes the new era dawning for North Tonawanda's waterfronts and surrounding communities.

Within the anchor sits a carousel horse silhouette, directly inspired by an actual horse displayed at the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum. This element pays homage to North Tonawanda's rich history as a carousel manufacturing center, when the city was known as "the Home of the Carousel" and produced an estimated 50 percent of all wooden carousels in the United States.

Behind the anchor, the flag depicts the Erie Canal, flanked by the counterweight railroad bridge on one side and the Wurlitzer building, which once housed a well-known musical organ manufacturer, on the other. These elements represent the city's industrial heritage and its connection to both transportation infrastructure and musical innovation, as North Tonawanda was once America's capital for automatic band organ production.

Former flag

The former flag of North Tonawanda, New York, is a defaced horizontal tricolor of white, green, and white. In the center of the flag is a seal, that contains a golden circle with two golden tools in the circle. On the top stripe is green lettering that reads "NORTH TONAWANDA", and on the bottom stripe is green lettering that reads "NEW YORK".

The flag was adopted in 1967 and was designed by Charles Houseman, a high school junior.

Flag redesign

A flag redesign competition started in 2024. The submissions for the flag redesigns were due by July 26, 2024. A public input and online vote phase started on January 15, and closed on January 24, 2025. There were 32 submissions for a new flag, with 8 semifinalists chosen for the public input phase online, which was a factor in the committee's selection of the final design. The winner was awarded $1,000, of which half was donated to a local community resource serving the city's youth. The winning design was created by Jeremy Sniatecki, a graphic designer originally from the North Tonawanda area. The new flag was officially unveiled at a public ceremony at North Tonawanda City Hall on July 8, 2025.