Local vexillographer designs “The People’s Flag of Yucca Valley”

If you’ve never been to a Yucca Valley Town Council meeting before, you may not be aware of the portion of the meeting called “public comments.” It’s basically an open forum where residents can address the Town Council for three minutes on almost any topic, and it’s 100% my favorite part of every municipal meeting. I love listening to people talk about topics that they’re passionate about. 

I had to cover the March 17th Town Council meeting remotely, and as I was watching the public comments, a 20 year-old Bret Albone came up and told the City Council that he had designed a new flag for the Town of Yucca Valley. As an admirer of civic design and an amateur flag appreciator (self-made titles), I prepared myself to snobbily-snicker at a flag that wouldn’t pass my sky high standards.

Instead, Bret not only presented a complete flag, he had reasons behind the design and the symbols he chose. I knew I could get down to the Yucca Valley Community Center by the time public comments ended, so I jumped in my car and went down to meet Bret and invite him to the Z107.7 Newsroom Studio to talk all things flags.

A flag for the people

The flag that Bret designed is different than the official Yucca Valley flag, which isn’t much more than a white rectangle with the Town’s seal on it.

Bret: “(The People’s Flag) isn’t like an official flag of Yucca Valley, but it’s something that is official to the person that flies it in Yucca Valley. Cleveland, Ohio just recently just got a people’s flag, and also Milwaukee, Wisconsin has had a people’s flag since 2016. I think it could like morph into something like that.”

So what makes a good flag, and why do some flags seem to catch on while others aren’t publicly flown?

Bret: “Honestly, the representation and symbolism behind it, and how the shapes can mean something, or like the colors in the background mean something. Not like a seal. I personally believe that a seal represents the government and not really the people.

It’s like if the United States flag was just a blue flag with the seal on it, nobody would feel attached to it. They probably wouldn’t fly it as much as they did.” 

Designing the flag

A person who studies flags is called a vexillologist, but a person who designs flags is called a vexillographer. It’s safe to say that Brett can be considered both. There’s an underlying design principle about flags, which is they should be so simple and memorable that a child should be able to draw it from memory. “If you look at American city flags, it’s just a seal, you know, and it’s too complicated,” Bret tells me. His flag doesn’t fall into that. In fact, I think it’s really good, which is what made me jump into my car that evening to go and meet him in the first place.

Bret described the flag to me for the radio, and here’s his breakdown of the design:

“The blue represents the sky and the turquoise of the mines around the area of Yucca Valley. And the orange ‘V’ represents rocks and sand. The brown represents the mountains and canyons and the valleys of Yucca Valley as well. The flag also features five stars that represent Yucca Valley’s history. The first representing the Serrano and Chemehuevi native tribes. The second star representing the reign of Spain. The third representing the Mexican Empire. The fourth star representing the California Republic and the fifth star for the United States.

“The yellow Yucca in the center, I actually took that from the seal.  What’s Yucca Valley without the Yucca? And that Yucca tree represents the people of Yucca Valley, because I believe blue, orange and brown and gold is a good color combo for a desert flag.

Public reception

“I’ve had a very overwhelming positivity at my church. They love it. I love it. You love it… The Town Council liked it, and that lady at the CVS pharmacy, she really liked it. She wants to fly it, you know, and if that’s the case, this is probably something bigger than just a people’s flag. This could possibly form into something being official and being something that people fly from their houses. I’ve drove around this town and there is so many flagpoles with no flags on it. It’d be cool to see them fly it.”

Bret’s appreciation for vexillology goes beyond just the flag he’s designed for Yucca Valley. He loves the American Flag, saying “I love how it represents us, the people of America, and I love how it represents our history all the way from Betsy Ross all the way to now.”

We sat and talked flags for about an hour along with his partner Lorraine. We got into good flags, bad flags, and of course… his favorites.

“My favorite historical state flag of all time would have to be the original 1901 Maine state flag,” he tells me. I had to Google it. When I tell Bret that his flag is a deep cut, which must mean he’s a real vexillologist.

He lets out a sly smile and glances over to the flag he designed.

“Thank you!”

If you enjoyed this brief discussion on civic design and amateur vexillology, we will be releasing the full interview as part of a new podcast, along with ways you can get your hands on the People’s Flag of Yucca Valley. Look for that after your Z107.7 Daily News on Sunday (4/5)

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