near
Sedona, Arizona The state of Arizona's website, museum, and official materials cite the following origins of the Arizona flag: While Harris is credited with the creation of the Rifle Team flag, several individuals appear to have played a role in the design of the state's first official flag, including
Rachael Berry, Arizona's first elected female state representative. W. R. Stewart of Mesa was working in conjunction with Harris, who was the Arizona
adjutant general and head of the
Arizona National Guard. Stewart, as president of the Mesa Rifle Team, felt compelled to design a flag for competition. Reportedly, Stewart's wife Mae sewed the first flag for competition from a sketch he had made on the back of an envelope.
Carl Hayden, Arizona's first U.S. Representative, was reported to have been involved with Harris in designing the first state flag, and his wife, Nan Hayden, was responsible for sewing the first state flag. Other individuals were also likely involved in its conception, design, and production. The Stewart and Harris version of the competition flag's origin is due to Stewart dropping some copper dye and white material into boiling water and the result was the copper color now seen on the flag. While some sources claim the rising sun of the earlier proposals was thought to resemble the
Japanese flag and was therefore changed to the present star, other sources (including official state documents) cite the
Spanish flag and the influence of early Arizona explorers, such as
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, as they searched unsuccessfully for the lost gold city of Cibola as the inspiration for the colors. However, these early explorers never used the current
Spanish flag, which is of much more recent design (1785). The flag was adopted on February 27, 1917, by the 3rd Arizona Legislature. It was passed into law without the signature of Governor
Thomas Campbell. The governor never officially specified his reasons for not taking any action on the bill. There was variant of the state flag carried by the national guard in September of 1917. Unlike the normal state flag it bore the inscription: "First Arizona Infantry," on the blue field. In a 2001 poll conducted by the
North American Vexillological Association, the Arizona flag was identified as one of the "10 best flags on the continent," ranking sixth of 72 North American flags for overall design quality. During the
2024–2025 Belgian government formation, the coalition proposal consisting of the parties
New Flemish Alliance (yellow),
Reformist Movement (blue),
Vooruit (red),
Christian Democratic and Flemish, and
Les Engagés (orange) came to be known as the "" due to the respective party colors resembling the flag of Arizona. This coalition ultimately formed the
succeeding government. ==See also==