Bangor umbrella art display gets new additions this year

Crews on Tuesday added umbrella-shaped benches and planters to downtown Bangor’s seasonal art display featuring dozens of multicolored umbrellas hanging over Cross Street.

The circular benches and planters, which look like yellow upside-down umbrellas, sit on the corner of Cross and Main streets. They were included in the original plan for the Umbrella Sky Project when the Bangor City Council approved the plan in June 2023, but the benches and planters never made it to the street before the umbrellas were taken down for the winter last year.

Since debuting in Portugal in 2012, similar Umbrella Sky displays have popped up all over the world. The Umbrella Sky Project was inspired by Mary Poppins and is intended to bring color to otherwise mundane city streets, directing pedestrians and traffic toward the area.

This is the second year Bangor has hosted the art display, made possible by the Downtown Bangor Partnership and sponsor Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. Crews started hanging the umbrellas last week.