We are being called upon to help propel Altona's municipal flag into the semi-finals of a Canada-wide contest that we told you about back in April. Out of 64 flags, Altona's flag has made it into the top 8, beating out Vancouver in the last round, pushing it into the quarter-finals. 

"We're excited about that," said Mayor Al Friesen. "We don't know where it will go. We hope that the people that have continued to vote for our flag will do so again. We do feel that if the story of our flag were next to it, it would win hands-down because it's such a neat story."

The wind-borne icon was designed by Edward Vincent Arcenal, one of the town's newest citizens who immigrated from The Philippines. The blue prairie sky and sunflower represent the town’s agricultural roots, yellow indicates the sun and the different-sized petals stand for the diversity and connectivity within the community.

"He wrote things about our community and why he put them into the flag," explained Friesen. "We have a values statement at Town Council, but he described our goals perhaps better than we do, so he really did that well and I think other people have recognized that as well."

Originally, voting was only open to municipal officials, but now residents are being called upon to offer up their pick. Polls for this latest round close Monday, June 20th. Click here to cast your vote.

The winner of the contest will be featured on the front page of Municipal World's November magazine issue.