Walking across the colors of the rainbow is no longer an option in downtown Gainesville.
The city began removing the first bricks of its rainbow crosswalk on Northeast First Avenue a little after 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 25. The removal process was handled with care, Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said, as the city plans to repurpose the bricks.
The city had announced on Aug. 23 it would begin removing its three rainbow crosswalks to comply with new Florida Department of Transportation standards. FDOT ordered the removal of all pavement art that does not serve a purpose for traffic control in a memo issued in late June.
The rainbow crosswalks were added to Gainesville in 2019 to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. All funding was reimbursed by The North Central Pride Community Center, which worked closely with the city on the project.
At the removal Monday morning, workers at the scene pried the bricks using crowbars and hammer claws and stacked the removed pieces like a Jenga board before sealing them with a tarp. The three rainbows were fully removed by Aug. 27.
The Pride Community Center of North Central Florida will coordinate with city staff from public art and historic preservation advisory boards on a future project for the bricks, said Donn Smith-Lopez, president of the Pride center.
Janna Zumbrun paused at the site on the first day of construction to take it in. The 74-year-old Gainesville resident said she felt “very emotional” about the crosswalks being removed.
“I’ve been in Gainesville for five years, every time I come to the crosswalks, they give me a moment of just happiness and joy,” Zumbrun said.
Taking away the crosswalks is taking away the work of the LGBTQ+ community, namely the late Terry Fleming, she said.
Fleming was the Executive Director for the local Pride center and president of the Stonewall Democrats of Alachua County. He helped secure funding for the rainbow crosswalks in 2019.
The city decided to rename First Street to Terry Fleming Street during the Aug. 7 City Commission meeting to commemorate his work.
“I’m very pleased that I live in a city that is committed to creating new art installations and new symbols of diversity and inclusion,” Zumbrun said.
During the first day of the removal, bystanders paused to watch the deconstruction. Some people stopped their car in the middle of the road to snap a photo.
Cynthia Capehart arrived with a CVS bag of chalk and rainbow stickers to hand out, saying she wanted to be there for anyone needing support.
Members of the community have started to make their own rainbows throughout Gainesville — similar to efforts in Orlando, where activists use chalk to recreate a state-removed rainbow crosswalk that was part of a memorial to the 49 people killed in the PULSE nightclub shooting.
Some Gainesville rainbow creators remain anonymous, like the unknown spray painter who left a rainbow between the empty markings of a crosswalk at Albert “Ray” Massey Park.
Others are more conspicuous. First United Methodist Church of Gainesville hosted a pop-up event called “Meet Me at the Corner” outside their church building. Lynnette Edmondson, the children’s ministry coordinator, and Michael Ekbladh, the director of music ministries and workshop arts, spontaneously planned the event following the beginning of the crosswalk deconstruction.
“We all just felt the need to do something that says, ‘You are seen’ — that there is joy, and kindness, and hope in this world,” Ekbladh said.
Ekbladh sent out a Facebook post Aug. 25 to meet at the corner of Northeast First Street and Northeast Fourth Avenue. About 13 people arrived to help. They created Oobleck, a nontoxic and washable alternative to paint or chalk made popular by a Dr. Seuss book, which is a combination of cornstarch, water and food coloring. Attendees then dipped their brushes and painted on the sidewalk.
“We intentionally didn’t use anything permanent, and we also intentionally didn’t do anything in areas that had the ramps that touched them,” Ekbladh said, referring to the textured warning surfaces placed ahead of any crosswalk for people with visual impairments.
Ekbladh and Edmonson said they felt affected by the crosswalk and knew others might feel the same.
“I just think it is a sad thing to do, because every time I saw those, especially when I’m in the downtown, it always brought a smile to my face,” Edmonson said. “The rainbow represents so many different things for people.”
Contact Teia Williams at twilliams@alligator.org Follow her on X @teia_williams
