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Twenty bell-shaped sculptures made of high-density foam will be displayed in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods during the nation’s 250th birthday next year, each painted by an artist to reflect the respective neighborhood.

Cindy Lozito is decorating a bell intended for the Ninth Street Italian Market in South Philadelphia — featuring images harkening to the neighborhood’s 19th-century roots, including pushcarts, gas lamps and icemen.

Lozito’s bell will be placed in the piazza at Ninth and Montrose streets, where the mural of former Mayor Frank Rizzo used to be, and right next to the grease pole where fearless climbers compete annually during the South 9th Street Italian Market Festival.

“2026 is going to be a big year for Philadelphia – for us as residents, but also for all of the visitors who are going to come in and see what our city is about,” she said. “It’s such an honor to be able to show a piece of the neighborhood and show the truly rich stories that Philly has.”

The Philadelphia bells are part of a statewide initiative, Bells Across PA, placing over 100 site-specific, artist-designed bells across Pennsylvania. The local bells were coordinated by Mural Arts Philadelphia, which asked artists to engage with neighbors to determine how they would want to be represented.

“It’s really about representation and making sure people’s voices are heard and having people be connected to 2026,” said Jane Golden, director of Mural Arts. “The bell is such an iconic object, a vehicle to capture people’s thoughts about where we are today and how people see their community in 2026.”

For the Ninth Street Market bell, Lozito consulted with Michele Gambino of the S. 9th Street Business Association, who appreciates that Lozito lives in the neighborhood she is depicting.

Gambino said she nailed it.

“We wanted the story of an immigrant community, and we wanted the story of the fact that people shop there for their kitchen, for their table,” Gambino said. “We’re all about food on Ninth Street. You’re not buying a shirt there. The bell incorporates all that.”

Artist Symone Salib painted a streetscape representing the area around Fifth Street and Lehigh Avenue, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood.

She included landmarks like the Centro Musical music store, the 47 SEPTA bus, metal palm trees in the sidewalk and the prevalence of rowhomes with cobertizos, a distinctly Latino architectural style of enclosing a porch in wrought iron to extend the house’s living space.

“In the Caribbean and Latin community, the houses often have open airways like that, so you can sit out there, communicate with your neighbors and have some breeze in your house,” she said. “Also, I think they’re kind of beautiful.”

Salib does not live at Fifth and Lehigh, but drew from her own Cuban heritage to connect with the residents. She participated in community meetings to get a sense of what is important to the neighborhood.

“There were definitely some old heads in the meeting who were, like, ‘Let me tell you back in the day!’” she said. “I was, like, ‘Please! Tell me! ‘Cause I wasn’t there.’”

The husband-and-wife artistic team of Chenlin Cai and Xingzi Liang is preparing a bell for Chinatown, depicting street scenes like dragon dancers and Chinese grocery stores, paired with more intimate images of family gatherings.

Cai said the scenes are painted in the style of murals inside the Mogao Caves, a network of Buddhist temples built into caves nearly 2,000 years ago in what is now the Dunhuang region of China, decorated with 45,000 square feet of murals.

“[The semiquincentennial] is a big year for the United States. Also, a big year for Asian immigrants,” he said. “We came to this country from [an] early age, like a rail worker and laundry men, and then people in different businesses. We [are rooted] in this country. We are now in [the] United States. We want to be part of this country and then to contribute to this country.”

Many of the statewide Bells Across PA are already installed. The Philadelphia bells will be installed in the spring, likely March or April.