Steve Gagne of Lewiston uses a pink marker Saturday afternoon to draw Muppets figures on a traffic control box on a traffic island at the corner of Russell Street and East Avenue in Lewiston. “Art is super important, and I love that they have allowed each artist to express their own ideas. It just makes the whole city better.” he says. Gagne is one of 19 artists throughout the city who are taking part in the event. Other control boxes were previously painted during a similar event in the spring, organized by Melanie Therrien of Wicked Illustrations in Lewiston. Therrien says the project began in 2002 when she asked if she could paint over graffiti on one of the control boxes on Canal Street. The Public Art Committee later commissioned her to find artists to paint other control boxes. In addition to the control boxes, Therrien and her band of local artists have painted fire hydrants and crosswalks. They also have other projects in the works. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal