by Nila Do Simon | March 19, 2025
And Now, a Few Words on Boca Raton
The Ode to Boca campaign is raising voices and celebrating 100 years of community through an innovative poetry program
Boca Raton’s tropical, sunny setting has long been the storied backdrop that has inspired a writer’s pen. Modern titles like “Silvia’s Second Act” and “Young Jane Young” prominently feature the vibrant coastal enclave, known for its natural beauty and cultural arts scene. So for the City of Boca Raton’s centennial celebration, it makes sense to lean into its literary persona, this time with poems that commemorate the past 100 years.
Since its founding in 1925, Boca Raton has worn many hats. Known at the turn of the century as a plantation town before the likes of legendary architect Addison Mizner evolved the undeveloped land into a seaside resort town, Boca Raton has been through several identity changes. The latter half of the 20th century saw Boca—as locals call it—as a sunny magnet for retirees. Since then, it became recognized as the city that helped developed the early computer industry, known as the birthplace of IBM’s first personal computer. And now, Boca Raton has evolved into an emerging academic hotbed that’s home to Florida Atlantic University and Lynn University.
What’s in a Zip Code?
How exactly does a city celebrate its multifaceted identity with words? How does it encapsulate so much of its evolution over a centennial celebration with written phrases? For the City’s Centennial Committee co-chairs, Amy DiNorscio and Anne Marie Connolly, poetry was the answer. DiNorscio was inspired by the impact of a popular poetry campaign – O, Miami – which celebrates the city through a poetic form invented by O, Miami, in partnership with WLRN written by its residents every April, also national poetry month, and had a vision for creating something similar in Boca.
“Boca Raton has so much history and culture,” says Connolly, “We wanted to launch a program that gives us insight into what people feel about Boca and where they come from, how they feel and what they love.”
The result is Ode to Boca, a place-based poetry initiative that invites residents and visitors to use the numbers of their Boca Raton zip code to write a five-line poem about what makes their neighborhood special. Each digit will represent the number of words in the line. Take, for example, zip code 33432: The first and second lines have three words, the third has four words, the fourth has three, and the last line has two words.
“Everybody can do it; you don’t have to be a poet to submit a piece for Ode to Boca,” says DiNorscio, who, in addition to her centennial co-chair role, is the Cultural Arts Manager for the City of Boca Raton.
The idea behind this form of poetry is to hear directly from city dwellers. “We are really trying to be big and bold in this program that we are putting together,” DiNorscio says. “It is important to us to hear from the residents’ mouths, explaining to the greater world who we are, which is a vibrant community with young families, young professionals, college students and active retirees.”
Each entry is carefully reviewed, and eventually 100 poems will be selected for publication and viewing in various locations, including the centennial website Boca100.com, as well as printed on banners and projected on buildings throughout the city. Ode to Boca has even been integrated into parts of the local schools’ curriculum, generating memorable phrases from students such as “No Snow Zone” and “From Pineapples to Personal Computers.”
“We’ve learned that if you give anyone a piece of paper and ask them to write a poem, they are lost,” DiNorscio says. “But if you give them the prompt of a zip code, people can take this format like a puzzle and really embrace the challenge.”
Connolly, who is also the City’s communications and marketing director, says community partners are engaging in the program as well. For example, Boca Raton Innovation Campus, or BRIC, encouraged tenants of its 1.7 million-square-foot office park to submit Ode to Boca entries. 15 were recently selected for a permanent installation in one of their hallways.
More Than Words
Ode to Boca is one of the many programs that the City is focusing on to celebrate its 100 years. The centennial celebration kicked off with January’s Boca Street Fest at the al fresco Mizner Park, which featured live entertainment, local vendors and a beer garden.
Later this year, the centennial co-chairs are planning to unveil a call to artists for a public art project inspired by Ode to Boca. A selected ode will serve as the muse for the painted piece that will decorate the stage door of the Mizner Park Amphitheater, a landmark piece of the City’s cultural arts programming.
“At the end of the day, we are all storytellers,” Connolly says. “We’re here to tell the story that’s at the heart of the centennial. These stories with Ode to Boca will live on well after the centennial celebration is over. It will engage the community – residents, businesses and travelers – to give genuine feedback on how they feel about Boca Raton. And, I’m excited to see what everyone comes up with.”
