NORTHEAST TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — Tallahassee's colorful crosswalk art may be gone, but a local nonprofit is bringing the color back — just in a different form.
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Knight Creative Communities Institute unveiled new artwork at W.T. Moore Elementary on Wednesday, including a 50-foot banner and an "Art of the Box" installation outside the school.
"This project began being brainstormed last fall when the artistic crosswalks on Dempsey Mayo were removed, and people were sad about that, but we wanted to bring some kind of artwork back in a legal way," KCCI Executive Director Betsy Couch said.
The project uses $2,500 in private funding and sits on school property, keeping it in compliance with state law.
It is a collaboration between students and the surrounding neighborhood, with Westminster residents selecting student artwork that represents the theme "Connected Communities, Inspire the Future."
The installation also calls back to the original design of the removed crosswalk art.
The crosswalk art had been a fixture in Tallahassee communities for years before the Florida Department of Transportation issued a memo prohibiting "surface art," citing safety concerns.
The memo followed Gov. Ron DeSantis signing Senate Bill 1662, which mandates that all public roads comply with national guidelines.
KCCI reports the crosswalks had slowed traffic in school zones by 20%.
The removal frustrated Westminster neighbors, including Robin Gray, who joined others in protest.
"It was going to happen, but the protest was more than just thinking about a problem as trying to intervene when a collaboration between the school and Westminster Oaks was being taken as if it were a political statement, which it was not," Gray said.
Gray said she hopes the new art and the community collaboration it represents will have a lasting impact.
"It brings back those colors, it brings back memories of those great crosswalks, and this art is even more personal because students worked on it," Gray said.
Couch said the project carries a broader lesson for the students involved.
"It shows the students that they can really have an impact in their community,” she said. “It was a way to show them that, look, even if rules change, you have to follow the rules, but look at how you can creatively adapt and bring things back and have something ultimately in the end that's even stronger.”
The work does not stop at W.T. Moore.
KCCI plans to bring similar art installations to the other neighborhoods that previously had crosswalk art.
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