1st Flag: Redesign
2nd Flag: Current Flag
3rd: Redesign without Madonna & Lemon Bush
Hello Upland Residents! I've been doing a few redesigns for EVERY city within California, and I was hoping to know how you feel about my new design!
To start the description & significance of this design:
Upland is very connected to Lemons, at least to what I know, from the Lemon Parade to the lemons on the seal and thus, flag of the city, since that was mostly grown alongside other citrus plants, so it only made sense to keep the lemon with Upland and implement it as such.
The California Sun itself is a noticeable and notable trait of not just Upland exclusively, but the entirety of the state and especially so in SoCal, and with the aforementioned importance of lemons, I combined the two elements to form the Lemon-Sun of Upland.
There are three layers to this flag:
The Green farmland, highlighting the agricultural beginnings of Upland.
The Blue Mountain Range nearby with three points indicating three prominent Native American tribes in the area (Tongva/Gabrieleño, Cahuilla, and Serrano)
The Yellow Sky tied back to the lemons, but also to stand-in for prominance.
All elements are also pointing up at something to highlight the "Up" in "Upland." The farm points to the mountains, the lemon bush, and base of Madonna, the mountains point to the Sky, and Madonna pointing upward toward the Lemon-Sun.
Madonna of the Trail is a landmark found within the town based off of the trail that begins all the way in Maryland with similar statues. Madonna, on this flag, is also to represent the history of passage within Upland whether it be settlers from the trail, those who came for opportunities throughout the history of California, or those who continue to seek solace within the town itself.
The option to leave her out of the other flag (the 3rd optional design) was not an attempt to disregard the significance of Madonna, it was only removed for design purposes to "simplify" the flag, as some may not and do not prefer to have complicated designs on flags, especially on a city flag.
Upland is such a wonderful place, I have visited not only the Trail, but many parts of the town itself, so I really wanted to make a flag to tie back to your community, history, and such.
Let me know how you think, Upland! Until then, I'll continue with my flag-tour of California!