The people of Eau Claire have spoken, and now the people have a flag. After thousands of votes were tallied, a design by Mike Berge titled “Clear Water Revival” emerged as the winner in the People’s Flag of Eau Claire competition. The contest, spearheaded by Eau Claire resident C.J. Krueger, was modeled after a similar effort to pick a People’s Flag in Milwaukee. (Although, unlike Milwaukee, Eau Claire didn’t already have an aesthetically displeasing mess of a municipal flag.)

“Over the last 15 years or so, Eau Claire has had an undercurrent of resurgence
and renewal. I wanted to design a flag that captured this revival in true Midwestern modesty with clean lines, negative space, and subtle letters.” – Mike Berge, creator of the winning design for the People’s Flag of Eau Claire

Berge’s high-flying design rose to the among a group of six diverse banners that symbolically embodied Eau Claire’s waters, land, and sky. Berge had this to say about his design: “I titled this flag ‘Clear Water Revival.’ Over the last 15 years or so, Eau Claire has had an undercurrent of resurgence and renewal. I wanted to design a flag that captured this revival in true Midwestern modesty with clean lines, negative space, and subtle letters. Despite the seemingly modest design, the message is clear and captivating with EC being the vantage point of the horizon, where the sky meets the river.”

So what happens next? Hopefully, a whole lot. Because this is a People’s Flag, it belongs to the people – literally. The design is available under a Creative Commons license, which basically means that anyone and everyone is allowed to share, copy, adapt, remix, or otherwise use the design however they wish as long as they give credit to Berge (and don’t add any restrictions themselves). Want to put the design on a T-shirt? A can koozie? A tattoo? Go right ahead! You can access the design (and the details) at eauclaireflag.org. On the website you can also order gear – from apparel to phone cases – emblazoned with the flag design.

In addition, you can pre-order an honest-to-goodness 3-foot-by-5-foot flag version of the flag from the same website for $45. The flags will be printed in Eau Claire by Ambient Inks and delivered later this summer. Get your flagpoles ready!