SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's new state flag was approved by the Utah legislature on March 2, just before the end of this year's session, but one group believes the voters should decide whether they want a new flag.
And they are trying to get a referendum on the ballot to allow Utahns' voices to be heard.
"We have been busily working on all the pre orders that we've have been coming through since the first of February when we open that up to our customers," said DeVaughn Simper, vexillogist at Colonial Flag in Sandy.
"Probably just over 100 or so in that pre order phase."
He said they've been seeing plenty of new buzz over the flag.
"There has been a lot of positive feedback that we've gotten from our from customers."
Simper says there's plenty to like in the new design.
"The five peaks representing the five tribes, the five pointed star representing our statehood, the Beehive, of course, representing industry."
But not everyone agrees.
"I feel the new flag was a solution, looking for a question, I don't think it was something that we needed for branding or for marketing," says Chad Saunders, who is spearheading the 2023 Utah flag referendum.
He doesn't believe the state legislature should have the last say.
"After they passed it with a narrow margin without a mandate we decided, we were gonna do the referendum. It was our way to say, look, we think you've made a mistake," said Saunders.
But getting the referendum on the ballot for a vote later this year will require more than 134,000 signatures by April 12.
"Our hope is, is that our legislators and the governor and those involved in leading our stay will understand that the voter right now, there's a good percentage of the voters who don't feel that they're being listened to," he added.
In the meantime, Simper is moving ahead with orders.
"We are pushing to have about 150 of them available in the next week or two."
Senate Bill 31 now awaits Governor Cox's signature.
Legislation approving the new state flag takes effect on March 9, 2024.
