Nevada is known for its desert bighorn sheep — the official state animal — and the desert tortoise, its official reptile. But there are other official designations that are lesser known, including a state tartan that recognizes the heritage of Scots, who were among the earliest settlers in the region.
The Scottish plaid pattern was officially adopted in 2001, and its colors represent different facets of the Silver State.
Nevada’s tartan was designed by Rick Pawlowski, a Las Vegas resident, to honor Scottish heritage and influence in Nevada, according to a 2002 Review-Journal article.
The blue of the tartan represents the waters of Lake Tahoe and the Mountain Bluebird, the official state bird, according to the Political History of Nevada. Silver represents the official state mineral as well as the granitic composition of the Sierra Nevada.
Red symbolizes the red rock formations in Southern Nevada as well as the Virgin Valley Black Fire Opal, one of Nevada’s official gemstones. The yellow represents sagebrush and Central Nevada, and the white represents the name of the state, which means “snowy” in Spanish.
The tartan features four blue lines, which represent the four main rivers in Nevada: the Colorado, Truckee, Humboldt and Walker rivers. The intersecting blue and silver represent the Colorado River as it meets Hoover Dam and creates Lake Mead.
A total of 64 small, solid boxes of silver and blue represent 1864, the year Nevada gained statehood, according to testimony Pawlowski gave to the Nevada Assembly in 2001. Thirteen solid intersections of small strips in the tartan represent Boundary Peak, the highest elevation in Nevada at 13,143 feet.
According to a 2001 Las Vegas Mercury report by Fred Couzens, Pawlowski said he went to the Highland Games in Arizona in 1997 and saw their tartan. At the time, 21 states had official tartans. When he learned Nevada didn’t have one, he went to work developing the design over the course of two years.
He showed the pattern to then-Sen. Harry Reid in 1999 at the Boulder City Independence Day Parade. Then he ran into then-state Sen. Dina Titus at a food festival, and she said she’d be happy to carry legislation on it.
Just a few years before, then Gov. Bob Miller declared April 6 as Nevada Tartan Day, even though there wasn’t an official state tartan.
Pawlowski testified the tartan would be a symbol of pride that could be worn as clothing, and it expressed the cultural and diverse history of Nevada.
A weaver in Scotland wove the tartan and provided it to groups in Nevada, and the tartan was registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans.
Groups across Nevada wear the tartan, including the Las Vegas Pipe Band and the Nevada Society of Scottish Clans, and products with the Nevada tartan can be purchased online or at the Nevada legislative gift shop.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.