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ST. PETERSBURG - The 12-foot banner first appeared about 7 a.m. Monday attached to a chain link fence at the 22nd Avenue N entrance to Interstate 275. In large, official-looking black letters, it read:
TODAY HAS BEEN CANCELED.
EVERYBODY GO HOME. THIS MEANS YOU!
In smaller print underneath was a Web address directing people to a personal page, or "blog," where visitors read this:
"I can only guess what profound effect this will have upon our society and our economy when everyone in America and perhaps the world stays home and twiddles their thumbs for twenty-four hours.
"The stock market will probably crash. People will loot unattended hot dog stands. Chickens will break dance on top of fire hydrants. It will be mayhem."
It's unknown how many of the hundreds of people who saw the banner heeded its advice, but the Dow registered a 26-point gain at Monday's close, hot dog stands remained largely unlooted, and fire hydrants were poultry-free. Although there were unconfirmed pigeon sightings.
On Tuesday, the banner reappeared at the intersection of 34th Street S and 54th Avenue S. But by mid afternoon, it was gone.
"The life of a guerrilla art banner is a noble, but fleeting affair," read a posting on the site, www.duh.cc "After a shining moment in the sun screaming its message of anarchy or absurdity or whatever, it is snuffed out like all of its predecessors.
"So it was with the "Today is Canceled' banner. After a successful day and a half run on the streets of St. Petersburg it was snatched by some unseen snatcher."
The person behind the banner and the Web site is Mark Michaels, a 33-year-old artist-activist-philosopher who works for Executive Tree Experts in Tierra Verde.
"I just have a skewed concept of humor," Michaels said Wednesday. "It was a little performance art and a little self-promotion. A little bit of a jolt from the malaise people can get in from their rat race mentality."
Officials from the city of St. Petersburg and the state Department of Transportation couldn't confirm whether anyone from their agencies had removed the sign.
"Or maybe somebody liked the banner and took it," said Dan Morgan, administrative coordinator with the city's sanitation department.
Michaels, a divorced father of an 8-year-old daughter, has produced murals, posters and various sculptures using stacked boxes and barrels, even mannequin heads perched on a stick. He has a history of placing his work on sidewalks outside news media outlets in St. Petersburg, Tampa and Orlando. He also pasted posters of himself on garbage bins, boarded up windows and other unlikely places.
Because of that, in January 2000, Michaels pleaded no contest to 76 violations of the city's graffiti ordinance and was fined $200.
But his biggest claim to fame may have come in March 1999, when he placed a suspicious-looking metal drum decorated with faces of newspaper columnists, the nuclear symbol and ominous warnings such as "The End" in front of the St. Petersburg Times' downtown office. The drum contained only cement, but drew police, fire trucks and bomb experts.
John Vitale is co-owner of Vitale Brothers, a St. Petersburg commercial art business. He is also a friend of Michaels' who helped him make the banner. He has a slightly different take from Michaels'.
"He's on a quest for fame and fortune," Vitale said. "But his heart is in the right place. You'll find that at the strangest times, he does something that pleasantly surprises you. He likes to make waves."
Although much depends on when those waves are made. Michaels had to rethink his approach after the Sept. 11 attacks. He decided terror alerts and strange objects in public places don't mix. So he laid low.
Until his triumphant return Monday.
"I'm not sure what I'll do next," he said. "Something that has an eye-catching theme.
"But it'll be soon. I feel like I'm smarter than I was before as far as crossing some boundaries."
Was the artist at home twiddling his thumbs Monday and Tuesday?
"No, I was at work," he answered sheepishly. "I couldn't even afford to follow my own rule. But if there was one person I could make go home, it was all worth it."