Boca Raton staff outline centennial year events, public‑art projects and legacy installations

City staff on Monday gave Boca Raton City Council members an overview of activities, partnerships and timelines for the city’s 2025 centennial celebration, highlighting public‑art installations, school partnerships and a legacy public‑art project at Wildflower Park.

Ann Marie Connolly, the city’s director of communications and marketing, said the city launched a centennial website and merchandise earlier this year and is shifting its program focus toward storytelling. “We have over 50,000 views, and it's been, a really great testament to all the great stories that have come out from our history,” Connolly said.

The presentation outlined two phases of the centennial: an initial events‑driven period that produced five completed events so far — including a opened weekend that drew about 10,000 people for a headlining concert and a drone show — and a second half focused on story collection and community art. Staff said the video series “Boca Raton Untold,” produced with Lynn University, contains six videos and has drawn the majority of the 50,000 views. The Ode to Boca program, produced in partnership with Oh Miami and integrated into Palm Beach County School District curriculum for the 2025–26 school year, has collected more than 1,000 submissions from K–12 students.

Amy D'Onorzio, the city’s amphitheater and community events manager, described several public‑art efforts tied to the Ode program and other centennial activations: recycled‑plastic “plastic poetry” installations at the downtown library, tile mosaics planned for the Wildflower Park pavilion and a permanent installation of four “Mi Casa York Casa” swings that were temporarily displayed earlier this year. Staff said an artist affiliated with Florida Atlantic University has been commissioned to produce the Wildflower mosaics and that installation work is scheduled to begin in November, with swings arriving in December. Staff set a target unveiling date of Dec. 6 for the Wildflower Park legacy project and said intermittent park closures for installation work are likely.

The presentation also listed sponsors and community partners (13 named partners) and described smaller promotional elements: a centennial ale produced by Prosperity Brewers, a Brightline station selfie activation, a hotel package with six local hotels, and a Flamingo House social‑media activation featuring 100 decorative flamingos at historic sites. Staff said Voices to Boca, a StoryCorps‑style oral history program produced with Flamingo House, is open for submissions via boca100.com.

Council members who spoke during the workshop praised the centennial programming and asked for staff follow‑up on related activations at Wildflower Park. Council members also raised specific programming priorities: preserving downtown recreational amenities and ensuring the city’s recreation staff and the CRA coordinate on activations, particularly at Wildflower.

Staff asked council members to expect further updates at the next CRA meeting and at an upcoming council workshop from the parks and recreation department on Wildflower Park activations.

The city posted a centennial microsite (boca100.com) where residents can find event dates, submit stories for Voices to Boca, and follow the centennial event calendar.