If you’ve been downtown in the past few days, or plan to head there for the Ogden Arts Festival this weekend, you may notice that Historic 25th Street seems just a tad more colorful and cozy.

Bicycle racks are wearing handmade tube sweaters. A street light post has been transformed, through needlework, into a coconut tree. Knit birds nest in trees, and a wide-eyed, crocheted owl surveys the scene from the intricate metalwork of a downtown business’ sign.

Historic 25th Street has been yarn bombed. The culprits struck just before sundown on Monday night.

“Why do we want to cover bike racks in knitting?” Diane Stern asked. “I don’t know.”

Yarn bombing — also known as guerrilla knitting, kniffiti and graffiti knitting — has been around for more than 20 years, but Stern, a spokeswoman for the Needlepoint Joint, said she believes this is the first “bombing” of Ogden.

“We put in an application with the city so we wouldn’t get arrested for vandalism,” she said.

The project was organized by Amelia Jones, manager of the Needlepoint Joint, and by Karyn Johnston, an employee of the store, on Historic 25th Street. The idea gained support from the Ogden Arts Festival and the Utah Division of Arts and Museums.

Volunteers measured their intended targets, figuring how wide crocheted monster toes would have to be to wrap around the thick, square leg of a built-in case designed to hold posters of civic interest.

In other states, statues have been given sweaters, and bicycles have been completely encased in needlework.

“It’s just about creativity,” said Johnston, 41, of Ogden. “Yarn bombs have been happening around the community for years. Seeing how excited people got, and now doing it here, is just such a hoot.

“People think of knitters and crocheters as old ladies in rocking chairs. We are fun, interesting people with creative ideas.”

Johnston was lacing up the back of a red, rooster-inspired covering for a lamp post near Roosters Brewing Company and Restaurant. Helping her was Summer Hope-Riley, 35, of Roy. Hope-Riley was the force behind a yarn-crafted monster a block or so to the west.

“He’s inspired by ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ which my kids love,” she said, of her creation. “It feels good to accomplish something and to be part of the Ogden Arts Festival. I’ve been fighting cancer for 5 months, so it’s nice to give something back.”

How long the “cozies” and fiber creations stay in place depends on the vandals, Hope-Riley said. But barring human intervention, Johnston thinks the yarn bomb pieces could last pretty long.

“Most people used their leftover yarns, so there’s a mix of natural fibers and things like acrylic,” she said. “You could watch the different yarns and treat it like a science project.”

Tami Endow, 53, of Roy, crafted her coconut tree during the span of one Salt Lake Bees baseball game.

“And they won,” Endow said. “I usually make things to give away. I make hats for the neonatal department at Stanford Hospital.” A relative works there, Endow said.

Mary Choberka, 74, said she has enjoyed knitting since age 10.

“It’s a good creative outlet, and it’s relaxing,” she said, as the 4-inch wide, 195-inch long piece she knitted was fastened around a curvy bike rack.

Choberka said the yarn bomb drew a few quizzical glances from passersby, “but everyone’s been really positive,” she said.

“I think it’s fabulous,” said Andrea Lyon, 39, of Ogden, strolling by and checking out what she called “the performance art.”

“I like that it reflects a local business, and that it’s so creative,” she said. “And I admire their dedication. I don’t have that kind of knitting time.”

Contact Nancy Van Valkenburg at 801-625-4275 or nvan@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @SE_NancyVanV; on Facebook at facebook.com/SENancyVanV.