From the City of Apopka
In recognition of Apopka’s 142nd Birthday, September 2024, the Apopka Serves Foundation volunteers set out to create a fun community-wide experience for all ages.
To learn more about the upcoming Happy Birthday Apopka Celebration, go here.
Inspired by the City of Orlando's 142 Birthday flag redesign in 2017, the group reached out to the North American Vexillological Association to learn how to get the project started. On August 7th, the contest was presented at the Apopka City Council meeting, and the contest launched to accept hand-drawn mail and drop-off submissions on August 8th.
The flag contest received 151 design submissions from children and adults of all ages from around the globe, including five states (Florida, North Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas) and three from St. Andrews, United Kingdom.
All eligible designs were presented to the judge's panel, and the top ten designs were identified for online public voting from September 20 to October 4.
An overwhelming community vote and a unanimous vote by the Apopka City Council chose Faith Lee’s flag design.
Incredibly, Lee is a lifelong resident of Apopka. She married her Apopka High School sweetheart and is now raising their children in the community where they grew up. Lee teaches art and music at Apopka Christian Academy, where she is blessed to share her passion for the arts with students in grades K to 8. The Lee family has called Apopka home since the early 1960's. They have contributed to the local plant and foliage economy and have served as pastors and ministers at a local church for the past 30 years.
Faith Lee, Flag Design Concept:
- Green = Life, prosperity, growth
- Yellow = sun, prosperity, optimism
- Blue = Tranquility, harmony, sky, water.
“My design includes a Philodendron leaf that is commonly grown in greenhouses. The lines in my design are more organic in movement to represent our city's wildlife and plant components. The two blue wavy stripes are to represent Rock Springs and Wekiva Springs. The Yellow stripe represents the sun and our greenhouse's dependence on the sun; it also represents that we are part of the Sunshine State. The Philodendron leaf lines create an A shape to represent A for Apopka. The bottom white half of the flag represents peaceful living in our community.”
It is an honor of a lifetime for Lee to be part of Apopka's history by redesigning the city flag, just in time for the 142nd Happy Birthday Apopka Celebration on 5th Street, October 25, 4-8 pm, where the new flag will be unveiled!
