The man behind Frederick County's new flag

Marwa Barakat, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Updated ·2 min read

Jun. 15—When Marc DeOcampo spent an afternoon designing flags with his son, he didn't expect one of his designs to become Frederick County's new flag.

DeOcampo, a county resident and City of Frederick employee, won the flag redesigning contest held by the county in honor of its 275th anniversary with his design titled "Frederick, the Crossroads of Maryland." He won $1,275 and a full-size flag with his design.

"It was really more the act of doing it that was the joy," he said.

DeOcampo said his son, Cameron, 18, is a history buff interested in flag designs and heraldry, so the contest gave them the opportunity to spend time together doing something "cool, fun and somewhat nerdy." They each submitted their own flag design.

In his original drafts, DeOcampo had gone down a more literal route by trying to include abstract elements of the physical features of Frederick County, like the mountains, rivers and farmland.

However, he said he didn't think it followed the simplicity parameter set by the County Flag Contest Selection Committee, which chose the three finalists for a public vote from 137 submissions that came in.

So, DeOcampo moved beyond the physicality of the county and thought about the people and their stories. From this, he realized that the county was the center of the state in many ways, including geographically and historically.

For instance, DeOcampo noted, Frederick sat just below the Mason-Dixon Line during the Civil War and was the site of the Battle of Monocacy, in which the Union army saved the capital, Washington, D.C., from Confederate capture.

"You couldn't get more Mid-Atlantic than here," he added. "This is a point which the North and the South do meet. This is the point which is the gateway from the East to the West."

Furthermore, DeOcampo said, the county blends the diversity of the state through its agriculture and its urban qualities. He added that many of the county's restaurants pride themselves on using local foods in their dishes in a farm-to-table manner.

In line with the theme of the county as crossroads of the state, DeOcampo used Maryland's colors and arranged them to highlight it as the center point.

DeOcampo doesn't think his flag will represent the county forever. The previous flag, which featured Francis Scott Key, was born out of a similar contest in 1976.

"This might be something that's indicative of today. I'm sure it'll change again," he said. "But it really was just a very ... huge honor just to be able to influence it now."