High and dry: Umbrellas come down, pool noodles go up

SCRANTON — The umbrellas came down and the pool noodles went up.

Frank Dubas, Scranton’s most prolific street artist, strung up about 200 foam pool noodles over the 500 block of Bogart Court downtown. The tubular aquatic accessories replaced a display of open umbrellas that Dubas installed over the street in April and left up until recently.

“Imagination takes another turn as the aerial palette above Bogart Court welcomes summer with 200 swim noodles. The court below beckons your hospitality and entertainment interests,” Dubas said in introducing photos of the display Wednesday on social media.

Dubas first made a splash in spring 2023 with dozens of multicolored umbrellas strung up across the Bogart Court alley behind the 500 block of Lackawanna Avenue, between South Washington and Cedar avenues. Dubas owns three vacant contiguous historic buildings at 514, 516 and 518 Lackawanna Ave. and the umbrella art stretched between the upper floors of his buildings and the elevated Renaissance Park abutting Bogart Court.

Dubas’ prior displays of street art in Scranton include:

A mural of John Lennon painted in 2020 on a wall of his building at 518 Lackawanna Ave.

About 15 skeletons climbing facades of his Lackawanna Avenue buildings for Halloween in 2021.

2,000 big red hearts “planted” for Valentine's Day in 2024, at his nonprofit Garden of Cedar community lot at 715 Cedar Ave. in South Scranton; and which topped the 1,200 hearts placed there for Valentine's Day 2023.

A Tetris-like homage of vintage ceiling tiles painted in a rainbow of colors and paired in patterns resembling the video game, and displayed in April 2024 at the Garden of Cedar.

And now multi-colored pool noodles suspended over Bogart Court.

“The cables above have been designed for all sorts of displays,” Dubas said on social media about the Bogart Court location.