Visible crew/equipment: While the fake band members begin to practice before the mayor shows up, in Andy's closeup right before he tries to stop Phil's flamboyant playing, the reflection of filming equipment is visible on the surface of Andy's tuba.
Visible crew/equipment: At the start, when Andy and the rest of the band are at Floyd's, we can see the black tape mark on the floor behind the barber's chair where Floyd's standing. Watch Floyd walk away from the chair for a moment, and when he goes back he looks down twice to make sure he's standing at his mark.
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Super Grover ★