New lights shine on Everett’s art district

Picture peas in pods, or lilies of the valley, with white flowers hanging in symmetry from green stalks.

Now take a walk or drive along downtown Everett’s Hoyt Avenue. There’s a new look, inspired by the plant world. Soon, there will be more to see.

Eleven light sculptures were recently installed along Hoyt, from Wall Street to Everett Avenue. Created by Seattle artist Susan Zoccola, the light pods hang from green metal arches that canopy over the sidewalk.

Futuristic and eye-catching, the light sculptures are finishing touches on the city’s $5.2 million Hoyt Avenue streetscape project, mostly completed in 2011. Along with lighting and infrastructure for art, the project included improved pedestrian features, trees and utilities.

The lights are unique to the three-block stretch of Hoyt considered the city’s arts district.

“A lot of our key cultural institutions are already on Hoyt Avenue,” said Carol Thomas, the city’s cultural arts manager. The Everett Public Library, Imagine Children’s Museum, Schack Art Center and Artspace Everett Lofts, along with the Library Place apartment complex, are near each other on Hoyt.

Thomas said the new lights visually unify the area. “It’s fun because it’s unique and defines a special area,” she said Tuesday.

There’s more to come when the installation is complete. Just above the light sculptures, which were attached to existing street light poles, are “gobo” projectors connected to the same poles. Those devices, not yet in operation, will project images onto the sidewalk below.

In her proposal for the sculptures, the artist Zoccola wrote: “I see the gobo projections as glowing colored circles of light drawing visitors down Hoyt Avenue.”

Zoccola said projected images could be changed seasonally or for specific events. “The lit sculptures with their nighttime gobo companions would be beacons, clearly identifying the Hoyt Avenue arts district,” she wrote.

The artist has created major public works around the region. Among them are a wave wall at the Seattle Aquarium, pieces replicating water drops at the Lynnwood Recreation Center, and the soaring “Grass Blades” sculpture at Seattle Center.

Kate Reardon, the city’s spokeswoman, said that altogether the lighted sculptures cost $110,000. The $5.2 million price tag for the Hoyt renovations included design, utilities, streetscape work and inspection. All capital projects within the city include a 1 percent expenditure for the arts, Reardon said.

Thomas said the lights in Zoccola’s sculptures use energy-efficient LED bulbs.

Allan Giffen, Everett’s director of planning and community development, said the Hoyt project was born of a downtown plan approved by the City Council in 2006. In 2009, he said, the streetscape plan was adopted. “This is getting down to the costly but fun part, actually building some of these projects,” Giffen said.

He added that a four-block renovation of Rucker Avenue downtown is also part of the plan. Reardon said the design of the Rucker project was completed along with the Hoyt design. “There’s no money and no timeline, but we have the design,” Reardon said. Rucker renovations will happen when funding is available, she added. The work on Rucker will have a more traditional look than artsy Hoyt, Reardon said, and will resemble Colby Avenue’s streetscape.

Thomas said Hoyt is already becoming an Everett attraction. About 3,400 people came to the Everett Craft Beer Festival, a one-day event held last August along Hoyt between Hewitt and Pacific avenues. “We had 27 Washington state breweries, over 60 craft brews, and live music,” she said. “From the feedback of restaurants downtown, they saw a lot of people.”

That event will happen again on Aug. 17. “It brings a lot of first-time visitors to Everett, exposing what a jewel Everett is,” Thomas said.

Hoyt is a street becoming a celebration.

“It’s really our focal point for the arts,” Reardon said. “With a hub for the artists we have here, we want to build upon that in years to come, and celebrate that.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; muhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.