LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Tiny boxes filled with trinkets, treasures and surprises are popping up in Las Vegas Valley neighborhoods as part of a worldwide movement that started during the pandemic.
Stacy created a trinket trade box in a Southwest valley neighborhood using a repurposed junction box. The box contains magnets, necklaces, jewelry, stickers and Pokemon cards.
“We have some sapphire influences here. I love it. Lisa Frank, I’m an 80s girl,” she said. “It’s gone from 20 people a day to over 100 people a day,” she said.
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Fourteen trade spots have appeared across the valley. Stacy she discovered the concept online.
“I was seeing some TikTok show up and I came from North Carolina where trinket trades and keychain and mug exchanges are very popular,” she said.
The boxes are part of the Worldwide Sidewalk Joy Project. There are now 2,000 free installations around the world.
The concept works like free little libraries where communities swap books. Participants trade items of equal value.
“So it’s a fair trade, so equal value,” she added. “If there’s something you want to trade for that makes you get excited, you know, make that trade and then somebody else might come and enjoy your old thing that you were kind of bored of and now it’s new to them.”
One visitor said the boxes have become a regular activity.
“This is our favorite trinket boxes,” Jason Sturtsman said. “This is our summer activity, at least hitting a box once a week, we just gather some toys she’s maybe not playing with.”
Pandemic project becomes worldwide movement
Rachael Harms Mahlandt, founder of the Worldwide Sidewalk Joy Project and an artist in Portland, Oregon, began tracking installations on her website during the pandemic.
“I was feeling really isolated during the pandemic. Like I think a lot of people, I had two young kids,” Harms Mahlandt said. “And while we were exploring around Portland, we kept coming across these like alternative installations.”
She created her own spot and the movement has grown beyond her expectations.
“I was hoping that it would be a really cool thing in the world, but it’s far exceeded my expectations,” Harms Mahlandt said. “I think spots like this, for me especially, really renew my faith in humanity. It’s highlighting the generosity of people and the willingness of people to put their heart out there and just do it for the love of strangers.”
The first trinket trade is believed to have started in Philadelphia last year. Harms Mahlandt said the map remains free on her website and she is working on an app to make it easier for people to find the neighborhood spots.
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