<P> Ohio has adopted an official salute to the flag and the official folding procedure gives it 17 folds . The Ohio flag has influenced a number of logos and municipal flags within the state . A scarlet - colored gubernatorial flag is based on the state seal . </P> <P> The Ohio state flag's design is defined in the Ohio Revised Code, section 5.01: </P> <P> The flag of the state shall be burgee - shaped . It shall have three red and two white horizontal stripes that represent the roads and waterways of the state . The union of the flag shall be seventeen five - pointed stars, white in a blue triangular field that represents the state's hills and valleys, the base of which shall be the staff end or vertical edge of the flag, and the apex of which shall be the center of the middle red stripe . The stars shall be grouped around a red disc superimposed upon a white circular "O ." The thirteen stars grouped around the "O" represent the original states of the United States and the four stars added to the peak of the triangle symbolize that Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted to the union . The "O" represents the "O" in "Ohio" and suggests the state's nickname, the buckeye state . The proportional dimensions of the flag and of its various parts shall be according to the official design on file in the office of the secretary of state . </P> <P> In addition to resembling the letter O and a buckeye nut, the flag's annulus also represents "the original territory of Ohio" in the Northwest Territory . </P>

How many stars are on the ohio state flag