Loons, lakes and hot dish: State flag submissions say a lot about our identity as Minnesotans

Minnesotans have more than 2,000 ideas for a new state flag, and loons star in many of them.

The State Emblems Redesign Commission on Wednesday published all of the public's submissions for flag designs. The 13 commission members will now comb through the designs and pick their favorites. Eventually, they'll narrow the list to five finalists that could be used as the basis of a new state flag. The commission is facing a Jan. 1 deadline to finish its work.

In the thousands of proposals, it's clear Minnesotans identify strongest with certain images and symbols, some of which appear nowhere on the current state flag. Others don't want the flag to change at all.

Here are top takeaways from the digging through the designs:

It seems likely that the final version of Minnesota's state flag will incorporate either a star or a loon — or maybe both. An overwhelming majority of the submissions included the state's official bird or a star, playing off the state's motto — "L'Etoile du Nord," the Star of the North.

These three colors dominate the designs submitted by Minnesotans — blue for Minnesota's lake-spotted landscape, green for rich prairies and forests and white to represent our frigid winters. Purple, red and black also popped up on a number of designs. Members of the State Emblems and Redesign Commission have said they want to stick to three colors in the new state flag.

The loon and the North Star aren't the only symbols Minnesotans seem to identify with. A buck appeared on multiple flags, as well as canoes and lots of pine trees. Many people incorporated the letter M on the flag or the included Minnesota's puzzle piece shape. One design included a giant mosquito in the style of California's bear flag.

Picture this: an all-white flag blowing in the wind with the word "BAYG" across it in black letters. That's supposedly the way Minnesotans pronounce the thing you carry out of a grocery store. While that submission isn't likely to get serious consideration by members of the commission, it's one of a handful that poked fun at our Minnesotan peculiarities.

One flag swapped in a pan of hot dish for the state seal. Others paid tribute to "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck." One person thinks their dog is important enough for the state flag.

Unsurprisingly, many of the flags worked a snowflake into the design, or used the color white to represent snow. A popular motif was a combination of a snowflake and the North Star. One flag simply said "Cold like Minnesota."

A handful of people submitted photos of the current state flag, making their preference clear. Some submissions tweaked the current flag design by swapping out the controversial imagery in the state seal — a white settler plowing a field as a Native American man rides off into the sunset — with a loon, or a puppy dog. Others maintained the state's motto, L'Etoile du Nord, on their flag submissions but got rid of the seal itself.

More people were interested in redesigning the flag, but several hundred also submitted ideas to change Minnesota's state seal. A few submissions swapped out the seal with a mirror image of the circle that sits at the center of the State Capitol's rotunda. One had Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox at the center of the seal. And yes, there were lots of North Stars and loons.