The Flag
The flag for the village of Stepney, Connecticut, was designed by the Save Our Stepney Task Force (S.O.S.) to raise community awareness of the integrity and character of the village. In August 2001, S.O.S. accepted a grant from the Regional Youth/Adult Substance Abuse Project (RYASAP) to produce a Stepney flag. The award was given to S.O.S. under the RYASAP Neighborhood Pride grants category.
S.O.S. enlisted its members and the children of Stepney Elementary School for their ideas about a crest that exemplified the spirit of the community of Stepney. S.O.S. took its design inspiration from the crest of Stepney, England. Their crest was divided into four quadrants and included a nautical motif against a medieval design. S.O.S. decided the images for the Stepney, CT crest should symbolize Stepney’s past, present and future.
Under the leadership of Doree Voychick, Art Instructor at Stepney Elementary School, Stepney‘s school children had the opportunity to submit drawings that showed what they saw for the future of the community. Three students drew a pastoral setting with a path and a sun. S.O.S. chose to merge the three ideas into one, composite design. The winning designs were drawn by fourth-graders Sarah Lewis, Caitlin Lombardi and Chelsea Price. On April 25, 2002, during the Earth Day celebration, the new Stepney flag was raised for the first time over the Stepney Elementary School.
The motto, which is wrapped under the crest, “From Great Things to Greater”, was interpreted from the Latin Motto on the Stepney, England crest.
The Colors
The crest’s colors of red, golden yellow, green and indigo reflect aspects of Stepney’s history as well as its present and future. Red symbolizes the blood that was shed in the New England colonies during the American Revolution and it is the color of the heart. Golden yellow represents the grain harvests of Stepney’s past. Green speaks to the lush Stepney countryside and indigo is the color of the waters of the Pootatuck River.