At North Collier Boulevard and Kendall Drive, a flock of snowy egrets painted by Joe Parisi has been wrapped around a signal cabinet since September 2020. Farther south on Collier Boulevard, at Winterberry Drive, Wanda Coady's sea turtle is still swimming across another one. These are two of the 11 "Creative Wraps" that went up on the island's utility boxes six years ago.

The artwork is coming off on a schedule the City of Marco Island published on Oct. 20, 2026. The schedule was written for the equipment inside the boxes. The wraps aren't being retired for being faded or dated. They are going because the traffic signal cabinets they cover date to about 2005, and the city is replacing those cabinets at 10 intersections from Oct. 26 through early December.

A Six-Year Run for Art Planned to Last Three or Four

The wraps started as a beautification project. On Dec. 2, 2019, Marco Island City Council approved a proposal to wrap 10 city utility boxes. Shelli Connelly of the Beautification Advisory Committee told the Marco Eagle at the time that the project would cost more than $6,000, and that the committee had nearly $5,000 in community donations to fund $500 awards for each selected artist.

The project grew from there. The committee and the Marco Island Center for the Arts opened a call for artists that ran from Feb. 3 to March 29, 2020. Artists could work in any medium and on any theme. According to Coastal Breeze News, 190 submissions came in from 53 artists. A panel of local officials, Art Center representatives, committee advisers and community members judged them without knowing who had made each piece.

By September 2020 the plan had grown to 11 boxes, and the award had doubled to $1,000 per artist, paid entirely by local donors. The Marco Eagle reported that sanding and sealing the boxes, printing the vinyl wraps and installing them was estimated at $13,858. Committee member Becky Irwin told the paper she suggested the idea and that Connelly handled manufacturing and installation and brought in the Art Center to source the artwork. Council Vice Chairman Jared Grifoni urged people to go see them in person. The same article quoted what he said at a Sept. 9 meeting:

"Get out there and find them because they are all unique."

The city expected the wraps to last three to four years. In its October announcement, it says they have lasted six. As of May 2026, they also appear in the inventory binder of Collier County's Public Art Committee.

Why the Hardware Sets the Deadline

The city's project replaces the 2005-era cabinets with equipment that supports four specific upgrades.

• Leading pedestrian intervals: people in the crosswalk get a head start of about seven seconds before cars going the same direction get a green light, which makes walkers more visible to turning drivers.
• Remote monitoring: staff can spot malfunctions faster and coordinate repairs.
• Emergency vehicle preemption: properly equipped emergency vehicles can request priority at a signal while responding to a call.
• Traffic data: better counts of vehicle volume to guide future transportation decisions.

The wraps can't move to the new equipment. The city says the cabinets "will be replaced to accommodate upgraded technology and software, requiring removal of the existing art boxes." It also says it worked with the original artists and that some of them will keep their decorated cabinets. Hello Naples covered the same plan on Oct. 27.

Corner by Corner, the Artwork and Its Date

The table below lines up the 2020 artwork locations with the city's tentative 2026 schedule. Each intersection takes two workdays: one to install and switch on a temporary cabinet, and a second to move operations to the permanent one.

By Nov. 12, the first four intersections on the schedule are past their listed workdays. The egrets at Kendall Drive are next, with work scheduled to begin Friday, Nov. 13. Waves' tiki hut at San Marco Road follows the next week. The palm trees at San Marco and Barfield come last, with the city's final listed date of Dec. 4. The city calls every date tentative and says weather, field conditions or construction progress can move them. It posts schedule changes on the official Facebook pages of the City of Marco Island and the Marco Island Police Department.

San Marco Road at Heathwood Drive gets a new cabinet even though it had no wrap in the 2020 lineup. Two wrapped boxes from 2020 aren't on this round's schedule at all: Jim Freeman's photo of driftwood on the beach at Bald Eagle Drive and San Marco Road, and Larae Jones' Jolley Bridge at North Collier Boulevard and North Barfield Drive.

What Changes at Each Corner Once the Cabinet Is Swapped

Each install day takes the signals at that corner offline for several hours. During that time, flaggers hired by the contractor direct traffic through the intersection. The city asks drivers to slow down, follow the flaggers, watch for workers and pedestrians, allow extra time and use other routes when practical.

Every remaining date falls on North Collier Boulevard, Collier Boulevard or San Marco Road, including the corner where North Collier meets San Marco, with work there on Nov. 17 and 18.

The longer-lasting change is for people on foot. After the new cabinets are in, walkers crossing at these corners get about seven seconds in the crosswalk before cars going the same direction get a green. The city says the head start lets pedestrians establish themselves in the crosswalk, where turning motorists can see them better.

The city credits the 2020 artists for bringing color and creativity to the community, and it has worked with them on what happens to their pieces. For anyone who wants to see the egrets, the tiki hut, the sea turtle, the burrowing owls or the palm trees in place, the table above shows how much time each one has left.

Small details like these, from crosswalk timing to the art on a specific corner, are part of how the Dom and Judie Team learns Marco Island one block at a time. If you're thinking about what your island home is worth, or weighing a move between Marco and Chicagoland, Dominick Clarizio and the team can help. Get your instant home valuation or schedule a free consultation.