When delegates from Dubno, Ukraine, visit their sister city of Oxford later this month, they'll find its beloved red bricks in the city's center — and now, too, on a commemorative flag designed specially for the event.
City Council members approved a final design for the flag last week. The idea was masterminded by Assistant City Manager Jessica Greene, who said Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhood flags inspired her to commission one for Oxford to present to its sister city delegates on their first visit.
Greene said public input played a major role in the process. Residents were invited to share qualities they associate with Oxford, which influenced the final design.
“The big ones that kind of really popped out were: Miami, friendly, red bricks and community, brick streets, nature, neighborly,” Greene said.
Alyse Capaccio, the owner of Polyrhythm Studio, took that input into account as she sketched out close to 100 ideas before eliminating ones that “didn’t feel like Oxford.”
“Ultimately the flag has to be accepted by the community as something that they feel represents them and that they like the design of,” Capaccio said, adding the responsibility was initially nerve-racking.
Capaccio, who previously studied, lived and worked in Oxford, said her time in the city made the flag design that much easier.
The final version includes red bricks to symbolize the city’s beloved architectural details and a hexagon to represent the city’s history in modern beekeeping. It also incorporates crossroads — which was the result of community input — and radiating stripes that, together with the flag’s middle circle, evoke a wiikiaami, or house, in the Myaamia language.
Greene said Capaccio helped the city seek the nation's blessing to create the flag because Oxford sits on the traditional homelands of Myaamia (Miami) Tribe.
“This flag is about Oxford, and so we felt like including them in the colors and some of the shapes, and then having their endorsement mattered when we did this flag,” Greene said.
For Capaccio, the assignment was “kind of a dream.” She’s been interested in flag design since she first heard podcaster Roman Mars name the term vexillology, which refers to the study of symbolism and flags.
“Your design choices are pretty limited compared to a lot of other kinds of design,” Capaccio said. “Flag designs are really powerful because a good flag, people get really excited about.”
Oxford officials first visited Dubno to formalize the sister city relationship in 2023, after which officials there raised a different, older Oxford flag.
Former mayor and current council member, Bill Snavely, said the visit was punctuated with air raid sirens nearly every night because of the country’s ongoing war with Russia.
Though he realized Dubno delegates would likely not be able to visit Oxford soon, Snavely said he and others admired their resilience.
“They were just so gracious and so welcoming to us that we pretty much fell in love with Dubno, and we fell in love with the Ukrainian people,” Snavely said.
Four years later, Snavely said he hopes their visit to Oxford will be a respite from Russia’s “ruthless, dirty campaign,” and a chance to understand the U.S. beyond national headlines.
“Oxford is a special place. We have people from the right and the left and in between, and by and large, we all get along pretty well,” Snavely said. “We understand one another. We care about each other, and we try to make life good for one another.”
After a few days in Washington, D.C., the Dubno delegates will arrive in Oxford on Sept. 18.
The new, commemorative flag will be raised during the city’s annual “Oxtoberfest” celebration.
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