(ABC 6 News-) Flag day will be celebrated in Minnesota amid division over the new state flag, which some counties are refusing to fly.

According to an email from an Olmsted county official, the new flags have arrived and the county will begin hoisting the new state flag of Minnesota at the county government center on Friday, June 13, (Flag Day) but the former state flag is still flying at many locations across the state, as multiple counties have passed resolutions resisting the new flag, saying Minnesotans were left out of the selection process.

The new design of the flag and state seal became official on May 11, 2024 (Minnesota Statehood Day) after the design’s approval by the state emblems commission appointed by the legislature.

The old flag was replaced partly due to concern that the seal, which was depicted on the flag, depicted a derogatory design of a Native American being driven away while a white settler cultivates the land.

“Dare I say anything that’s not a Native person being forced off their land is a flag upgrade?!” tweeted Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. “Excited to have a new state flag that represents every Minnesotan.”

The new design was was adopted through an act of a state-design commission appointed by the legislature.

Reaction to the flag was mixed, with a poll in February showing that 49% of Minnesotans wanted to keep the old flag, 23% like the new design and 21% say the state should start over with a new design entirely.

Lee Herold, owner of Herold Flags in Rochester, said he’s still taking orders for both flags.

“It’s been controversial, some like (the new flag), some are very unhappy. That’s the nice thing about our country. We are free to fly what we want.”

“The overwhelming public reaction to the new design has been negative,” reads a motion passed by the Mower County Commissioners in February, “…and the current official state flag and seal are symbols of our state, and contain historical information on our farming background, Native American heritage and co-existence that is part of the rich history of our state”

Deputy Mower County Administrator Matthew Verdick said that much of the decision was fiscal, citing that it would cost the county $12,000 to replace the flags, a cost that they don’t want to be on the hook for.

Becker, Mower, Crow Wing, Douglas, Houston, McLeod and Fillmore counties have all taken action regarding the flag.

“I guess in the board action it said that we weren’t opposing the new state flag,” said Verdick. “We were opposing the process that the state got to the new state flag and we were requesting that the state involve local governments and to consider the cost to our local governments. Changing the seal of the state flag is going to be at a cost to our local taxpayers”