Star Tribune
Some of Minnesota’s rejected state flag designs are now for sale
Brandon Hundt said he “let hope creep in” when his design — a North Star and a snowflake on a deep blue background — was chosen last month as a finalist for Minnesota’s next state flag.
Those hopes were dashed this week when the State Emblems Redesign Commission voted to eliminate his flag from the next round of finalists. But Hundt’s concept is getting newfound support in the wake of their decision, as fans try to stake a claim on their preferred design — even if it won’t fly as the official flag of the state of Minnesota.
“I was immediately asked: ‘I want a t-shirt of this, I want a hat, or I want to fly this flag,'” said Hundt. “It’s been cool to see this response.”
The St. Paul product designer sketched out the concept for his flag — known as “starflake” among supporters — more than eight years ago, and he’s been selling a T-shirt version of it for four years. Before the commission’s decision, he hadn’t done any promotion and had sold only seven shirts. He’s sold roughly 40 in the last few days.
The design is also getting a limited run printing by Flags For Good, a company run by designers that promotes flags they like. Michael Green, founder of Flags for Good, said they’ve never sold a version of Minnesota’s current flag, but they’ve promoted an alternative called the North Star flag for years.
It was designed decades ago by two Minnesotans who were pushing state legislators to consider a flag redesign. The North Star flag was submitted to the commission but didn’t make it to any of the final rounds of consideration.
Still, Flags for Good has seen a boost in traffic from Minnesota and interest in both the starflake and the North Star flag designs.
“We are uniquely in this weird business of selling alternatives to flags,” said Green. “I think a lot of people aren’t excited about the final three that were announced, so they’re staking their claim.”
The 13-member commission was created by the Legislature last session to redesign both the state flag and the seal after decades of criticism that the white settler imagery on both was offensive to the state’s tribal communities. They sought designs from the public, who flooded the commission with more than 2,600 alternatives for the state flag and seal.
The commission adopted a final seal design this week and narrowed down six flag finalists to three. They could select one top finalist at a meeting scheduled for Friday.
Despite not having his design in the final round of consideration, Hundt has been following the process to get a new flag for years and he’s glad there will be something new flying in 2024.
“We’re going to get a new flag and ultimately that is the most important thing, because the current flag is so bad,” he said.
He thinks Minnesotan’s response to the current flag redesign process should encourage other cities and counties to consider their own flags and symbols. He’s also created a redesign of the Minneapolis flag.
“I hope other municipalities see how engaged Minnesotans are in this process and think: this would be a good way to engage our community,” he said.
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
