More than ten years ago, when Sammamish first became a city, one of their first official acts was the raise the City of Sammamish flag inside City Hall, then in a small office in the Sammamish Highlands Shopping Center.
In the 10 years since, that same flag has been unfurled and flown at all sorts of city events and community celebrations, rain, hail, snow or shine, including the City of Sammamish’s 10th birthday last year.
Not only did 2009 mark the city’s 10th birthday, it was also the 30th birthday of one of the Plateau’s most esteemed institutions, Cub Scout Pack 551. The two occasions also fell close to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America.
Pack leader John Eberhardt thought it would be a great opportunity to celebrate both the city’s and the scout pack’s milestones, so when he heard that the City of Sammamish flag was the one and only in existence, he had an idea for the perfect gift.
“We contacted the city, to try and find out how we would go about getting some new flags made up,” he said. “But nobody knew. We couldn’t find the original design, and nobody seemed to know where it was made.”
Luckily for the Cub Scouts, somebody knew somebody who had done some design work for the city in the past, and they had a digital copy of the flag’s design, which is the same as the logo used on the city’s Web site and promotional materials.
Eberhardt found a flag maker in Bellevue, and last Wednesday was able to present a new City of Sammamish flag to Cub Scout Pack’s host school, Margaret Mead Elementary, in a colorful ceremony during a school assembly.
And on Thursday, Pack 551 presented a brand new flag to City of Sammamish Mayor, and former Cub Scout, Don Gerend.
Gerend said now that Sammamish has a second flag, he can fly it proudly whenever he meets with representatives from other cities around the country.
“We can take one down to Vancouver for the Association of Washington Cities annual convention in June,” he said. “The AWC has a parade of city flags at their convention, and Sammamish hasn’t been represented in it in previous years.”
