Last modified: 2023-10-21 by rick wyatt
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image located by Daniel Renterķa, 26 September 2023
According to an article by The Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii County held a
county flag contest on the American bicentennial year of 1976, a year where
interest in flags had been greatly kindled among the general population. Once it
concluded, the winning entry chosen by a bicentennial committee was presented to
the county council on 20 October 1976. Its designer's name is Walton Alcos, who
was a cook instructor for the Job Corps training center at Rainbow Falls. Even
though he designed it, the actual final design was by commercial artists William
Kikuchi and Nelson Makaua.
The flag features an outer ring of what are
supposed to be 50 hibiscus flowers, representing the fact that Hawaii is the
50th American state. There is a green wreath and an outline of Big Island in
green. The dominant orchid is set inside the island outline. The flowers are in
red, with the background being yellow and symbolize the royal colors. County
members never took action to officially ratify this flag and delayed on adopting
it. What also did not help was that there was not an entirely positive view
toward the county doing this contest as they believed it was just wasting
resources.
Daniel Renterķa, 26 September 2023
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image located by Daniel Renterķa, 26 September 2023
The seal of Hawaii County, according to another article by the Hawaii
Tribune-Herald in 1974, says the seal was designed by Stephen L. Desha and
accepted on 2 August 1905. In 1959, when the county achieved statehood, the
wording on the seal changed from Territory to State of Hawaii. The seal depicts
the sun rising over Mauna Loa with smoke coming out of it as the backdrop for
eight coconut trees, overlooking the ocean and a man in a canoe at its shores.
In the central design of the seal, it also displays the motto "Ola Na Moku",
which means "The Islands Prosper".
Daniel Renterķa, 26 September 2023.jpg)
image located by Daniel Renterķa, 26 September 2023
In 1969, the county held a
county seal contest. This seems to have been done to mark the 10 years of
statehood with something special. According to an article by The Honolulu
Advertiser, Ted Bretcher, a 46 year old artist at the time from Kailua-Kona, won
$100 from his redesign of the seal after winning the contest in July 1969. He
submitted 3 redesigns to the contest. The contest winner displays the county
motto, a stylized volcano (triangle), and an orchid tree flower in front of it.
It has six petals for the six traditional kingdoms of the Big Island. However,
in August of that year, another article published by The Honolulu Advertiser
revealed that the county council did not accept the redesign, deciding on the
14th to "approve" of it, but not adopt it.
Daniel Renterķa, 26 September 2023