| Not to be confused with the city in Russia. |
The flag of St. Petersburg, Florida, is a horizontal 5-color of orange, red, green, navy, and blue, with a white pelican near the center.
The flag was adopted on February 17, 1983, and designed by Robert F. Whitney, Jr. in an effort the create a more recognizable flag.
Symbolism[]
Red and orange are for St. Petersburg’s abundant sunshine, green for the land, and the blues for the waters of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico that surround the city. The pelican, indigenous to the area, represents the environmental concerns of the citizens.[1]
Former flag[]
St. Petersburg’s first flag was adopted on July 14, 1927, following a contest organized by Mayor C.J. Maurer’s committee. The winning design, created by Betsy Ross Flag Co. of Newburgh, NY, featured a vertical tribar of blue, gold, and blue stripes with the city seal at the center. The seal, adopted in 1921, depicts a pelican on a post, a palm tree, a poinsettia, a sandy beach, an ocean, and a golden sun. An alternate mayor's flag with reversed colors was also introduced.
In 1951, Mayor S.C. Minshall and the city council revised the design to include "St. Petersburg, Florida" above the seal and "The Sunshine City" below. However, the proposed design proved unworkable. Instead, a new horizontal flag was adopted on April 17, 1951, featuring dark blue, yellow, and dark blue stripes, with the seal centered. The top stripe displays "ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA" in gold, and the bottom stripe reads “Sunshine City” in gold script. This single design replaced the mayor’s flag.[2]
2004 NAVA survey[]
The flag scored 6.24 / 23rd out of 150 on the 2004 NAVA City Flag Survey, behind Cincinnati, and ahead of Pittsburgh.
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