ST. LOUIS — It's Hispanic Heritage Month and for the first time — a flag was created for the celebration.
A local artist and a committee worked on it for months officially unveiling it in August, ahead of Sept. 15. The flag will fly from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
The month starts on Sept. 15 because it's a day marking the independence of multiple Latin American countries.
While the flag waves outside of St. Louis City Hall, another dedication will take place at the Hispanic Festival this weekend.
Elisa Bender, event organizer, said she knew an event like that was always needed in her hometown.
"I grew up here. I was the only Hispanic in school for a long time, more started to move in and there wasn't any type of festival or event," Bender added.
That's when the festival came to life in the late 90s'. Bender's mom was the one who started it with other volunteers creating Hispanic Festival Inc. This year, it welcomes a new tradition with the flag.
"The City of St. Louis was raising a flag for Black History Month and I thought how great would it be if they did the same thing for Hispanic Heritage Month. When we were looking around, there wasn't an official flag, so we thought how great would it be to get a local artist to create one," Bender said.
Bender contacted local artist Jose Garza to be the designer. The group also partnered with the Regional Arts Commission and the Latinx Arts Network.
A committee brainstormed potential flag prospects and Garza researched design ideas.
"There's an organization called the North American Vexillological Association, they are the largest group of flag enthusiasts. It recommended five principles on how to make a flag including no text, no more than three colors and to keep it simple," he added. "We started to talk about migration and moving across different borders, real or imaginary, when it came to making the flag."
Three different flags were finalized.
Bender said the one chosen received 75% of the votes.
This was the winner:
The geometric design has the American Cordillera chain of mountains.
It's Bender's favorite part.
"The design right in the middle has to do the mountains that connect North and South America and it's a connection among all of us," Bender said. "There is a lot of symbolism behind the flag."
Each color, symbol, and aspect of the flag was picked to represent the community as a whole.
"I hope people see it as a flag of unity and it's meant to bring us together under one banner," Garza added.
The large 12-foot-8 flag will be dedicated at the Hispanic Festival from Sept. 22-24. Thousands are expected to attend. The event kicks off Friday at 10 a.m.