A Bicentennial Flag
In 1975, Marathon County was given a flag with the logo of the U.S. Bicentennial. In 1976, the United States would celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of our country. And communities across Marathon County joined the rest of the country in the observation of the anniversary, in what was also one of the most remarkable celebration of local history. Plus lots of parties and festivities, it’s still the 4th of July.
[Some combination of the actual celebrations that took place in Marathon County to go in this and probably other sections. But I need to figure out how to streamline the narrative a bit before I tackle telling the full story here.]
The center of the flag included the official logo for the US Bicentennial. It was designed by the legendary graphic designer Bruce Blackburn. He also designed the iconic “worm logo” for NASA that was used for decades.
For the Bicentennial logo, he created two stars with rounded points (in red and blue) to represent the two centuries of the United States. And between and around those two rounded ribbon-like stars, another star is represented at the center in negative space, representing the yet-unrealized future of the third century the country being launched towards.