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Cheney flag celebrates agriculture, university

Graeme Webster and his granddaughter Madison Rollins, 8, display the new Cheney flag. Webster helped design the flag. (Photo courtesy of Graeme Webster / The Spokesman-Review)
By Lisa Leinberger lisal@spokesman.com(509) 459-5449
Graeme Webster and his granddaughter Madison Rollins, 8, display the new Cheney flag. Webster helped design the flag. (Photo courtesy of Graeme Webster / The Spokesman-Review)

CHENEY – In an effort to boost civic pride, several city buildings will soon fly Cheney’s new flag.

Designed by city resident Graeme Webster and Cmdr. Rick Campbell of the Cheney Police Department, the idea for the flag sprang from a conversation the men had with Arlene Fisher, city administrator, over pancakes at the VFW pancake feed on Memorial Day.

Webster said he wanted a flag to announce Cheney throughout town that was separate from other banners and flags that touted Eastern Washington University. He said Fisher mentioned that, when she went to meet employees from other cities throughout the state at conventions or meetings, the other employees would have small desk-set flags celebrating their cities. Campbell said he was thinking about a city flag as well.

“It was a lot of fun,” Campbell said of the project. “The university had a flag, heck, McDonald’s had a flag.”

Webster said he took the design from the patches of the police uniforms, which Campbell said was designed in a contest by a local student in the early 1990s.

Once Webster and Campbell had a design, which Campbell put into a computer program, they took it to the same place where Campbell gets patches for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.

Webster added that the blue in the flag represents tradition and honor, the white is for purity of purpose, and the gold represents sacrifice. The wheat in the “C” represents the agricultural history of Cheney, and the eagle, which is different from the EWU eagle, represents the school.

Webster originally wanted a lighter blue for the flag, but was pleased with the final result.

“I think the colors are right,” he said.

The city ordered five ceremonial flags that feature gold fringe around the edges and a gold tassel. One of those flags is displayed in the City Council chambers.

It also ordered 15 outdoor flags which will be flown at city buildings and parks in Cheney.

There is one for the Police Department, City Hall, the public works building, the Fire Department and at Veterans Park.