Creative City Project to resurrect local favorite Merita Bread sign as part of Immerse downtown arts takeover

Creative City Project this week dropped details on the upcoming Immerse multigenre arts takeover of downtown Orlando — with the very surprising reveal that a famous piece of Orlando signage will be part of it.

Yes, the neon Merita Bread sign — which for nearly 50 years provided a bit of aesthetic relief (often accompanied by a whiff of baking bread) on an otherwise white-knuckle drive on I-4 through downtown — will be taken out of storage, mounted and relit in downtown Orlando.

The Merita sign leaves its current home at the Morse Museum and will be lit up and stationed at 30 S. Orange Ave. for 60 days. The installation will even feature that familiar aroma. (Good times.) The lighting ceremony for the sign happens in advance of Immerse on Monday, Feb. 10.

The Merita Bread sign will join other large-scale downtown installations, including the Mariposa LED butterfly sculpture, the half-dome LED Mind Wash (which pairs ever-shifting light patterns to music) and the Dream Slide unicorn slide.

There will also be live performances courtesy of Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group and Michael James Scott, among many others.

Immerse happens Friday-Sunday, Feb. 21-23, from 5-11 p.m. each day. The event is free, but ticket upgrades are available to get you even more immersed.

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This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2025.