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By Dana Ferguson, Minnesota Public Radio News

In the middle of the Minnesota Capitol rotunda, a marble star punctuated by a brass-and-glass interior shines with light from below.

“Minnesota is the North Star state, that’s why we have that star there,” Capitol tour guide Susan Armstrong told a group of visitors this month as she pointed out the intricate floor design from above. “That has eight points because it’s made of four M’s for Minnesota.”

The eight-point star isn’t unique to Minnesota and appears in settings across the globe. But the group redesigning the flag hopes it becomes known as the “Minnesota Star.”

The State Emblems Redesign Commission is definitely including the eight-point star in the design for the new state flag, and plans to iron out a few finer details of the design in what is expected to be its last meeting on Tuesday.

While the flag won’t spell out Minnesota, panel members said the symbols will clearly signal it.

“Here’s the beauty: It still says Minnesota in two ways — in the shape and in the star,” said commission chair Luis Fitch, a brand marketer heavily involved in the quest for a new banner to represent Minnesota. “Minnesota is water, Minnesota is rivers. Minnesota is this star. Here’s the shape of Minnesota. We don’t have to write ‘Minnesota’ anymore. This is Minnesota.”

The Legislature set up the panel and tasked it with selecting a new state flag and seal before the end of the year. DFL lawmakers raised concerns about the existing flag being too cluttered and insensitive to some groups.

The current royal blue design has the state seal in the middle. That’s set to change too with a seal concentrated around a red-eyed loon (no laser beams in this one). But it won’t appear on the flag.

The working flag design includes a K-shaped figure that resembles Minnesota on the left side, with an eight-point star inside. Horizontal stripes run to the right in light blue, white and green — though the color palette and the number and thickness of stripes could well change.

The design will replace Minnesota’s existing state flag on Statehood Day – May 11 – unless the Legislature intervenes. Fitch said he’s confident that won’t be necessary.

“I have a feeling that Minnesota, with some time, they’re gonna love this new flag,” he said last week.

Luverne designer Andrew Prekker submitted the winning entry and said the North Star was most important to his design. He then applied a green line to symbolize nature, white for snow and blue for the water Minnesota is known for.

The finished flag will wind up as a compilation of ideas from multiple submissions. The star was swapped in from other entries and the state shape came as a late suggestion from another designer.

The design has attracted praise along with some blowback. Commission members said they were trying to keep it simple rather than load it up with symbols.

“It might say more by saying less. It’s like haiku versus a sonnet,” said Phillip McKenzie, a commission member appointed by the Minnesota Arts Board who supported the selection. “And I appreciate that part of the flag.”

Denise Mazone was appointed to the panel by the Council on Minnesotans of African Heritage. She raised concerns about some designs representing groups more than others, and mentioned that the star design resembled flags flown elsewhere.

“I think we really need to take our time and think it through and make sure that we’re being inclusive of everyone,” Mazone said. “We have so many walks of life in our great state of Minnesota and everybody needs to feel included, everyone.”

Another member, state Senator Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, argued that the state’s name should be explicitly spelled out, noting it could “bring stronger identity to what the flag represents.”

Ultimately, the commission opposed that move.

The panel will also consider returning the intellectual property rights of more than two thousand other designs to the people who submitted them. The move would allow those people to sell those designs on T-shirts, hats or other goods, or pitch them for other flag purposes.