Aragon City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to accept the winning design for an Official City Flag.

A panel of judges recently selected the winning flag design following the competition that ended on September 1, 2012.

It began in May 2012 when a meeting between Leigh Hulsey, Arts Manager, Rockmart Civic Arts Commission, and Mayor Ken Suffridge put in motion a plan to design the flag.

Suffridge set a goal of completing 3 projects - a motto, official seal and flag – during his first 6 months in office. The first two were adopted prior to Thursday’s meeting.

“I think civic pride is of paramount importance to any community,” he said.

He emphasized that Aragon residents take pride in the past, including those who were employed at the Mill, which closed on March 31, 1990.

“The children and grandchildren of those folks need to have that heritage protected,” Suffridge said.

Hulsey, a native of Aragon, has memories of her grandparents Riley and Eva Akins who lived on Oak Street for almost 40 years.

“Grandma and Grandpa used to sit on the front porch to watch the traffic of the mill workers changing shifts every day,” she said.

Her grandfather was a City of Aragon employee for several years. She remembers those days as a time when everyone knew neighbors.

Akins is also credited with being “one of the individuals” that was instrumental in starting the tradition of the annual Aragon Bar-B-Q”, now in its 38th year.

The Mayor also did research on the old Aragon High School colors. Flag colors purple and gold represent the school colors of the “Purple Pirates”.

“I want to dedicate this flag to all those who worked at the old Aragon Mill, their children and their grandchildren,” Suffridge said.