In 1999, the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the Galiano Club, Board of Directors President, Robin Ridington, asked for ideas on how to celebrate the event. Director and flag-enthusiast, Peter Renner, offered to organize an island wide ‘Galiano Flag’ contest. Club member & fellow flag-enthusiast, Allan Forget, volunteered to help. Advice was then sought from The Flag Shop (Victoria).

After some advertising in the local press 30 designs were submitted. These were given public exposure for several weeks on the walls of the island’s Trincomali Bakery & opinions were sought.

The Times Colonist (Victoria) newspaper reported, “Some of the submissions were hilarious. There were quite a few quasi-Tibetan things, lots of sunrises, eagles and mountains.  Some proposed flags were more like political statements. One design featured the road from the island’s Ferry Terminal with a barricade that said “go away.” “

A half-dozen Galiano organizations were then asked to choose a rep to become members of a Flag Selection Committee to be chaired by Jamie Webb, Manager of the Flag Shop (Victoria).

After some deliberation the ‘Starfish’ design  — “a purple starfish floating on an ocean of blue surrounded by a sky of blue” — created by Marina Szijarto and Linda Lopez, was chosen.

The Flag Shop created the first copy of this new Galiano Flag free of cost and offered to keep the design on file in its Victoria shop for future use.

The official flag raising ceremony was held November 20th, 1999 as part of that day’s Christmas Market (annually organized by the Galiano Club). A flagpole had been newly installed at the front of the Community Hall (by Dennis Olsen). With the Galiano Singers, MP Gary Lunn (Saanich & the Islands) and the island’s resident RCMP in attendance, a brief ceremony was held and a few dozen residents cheered as the flag was flown for the very first time.

The flag was offered for sale by The Flag Shop & by at least one island business

The Galiano Flag has continued to fly at the Community Hall ever since. In 2020 the Galiano Club Board voted to designate the ‘Starfish’ design as the official Club flag.