What the World Needs Right Now Is More Sidewalk Joy Spots
A Q&A with the founder of Worldwide Sidewalk Joy Map and a tour of Little Free Seed Libraries and Free Flower Stands in Portland, Oregon.
There’s a good chance if you take a meandering walk in one of Portland, Oregon’s many charming neighborhoods ,you’ll stumble across a spot of Sidewalk Joy. What is Sidewalk Joy, you ask? Sidewalk Joy is an interactive installation or exchange, built in parking strips and front yards, and created to bring joy, whimsy, inspiration and connection with the community. Think little free libraries, poetry posts, miniature art galleries, and toy exchanges. These spots–carefully crafted by humans solely because they want to share something they love with their neighborhood–feels like what the world needs right now (and always).
My neighborhood is home to several Sidewalk Joy spots–and a few weeks ago when I was searching online for the location of a puzzle exchange, I came across the PDX Sidewalk Joy Map. This incredible map highlights spots all over the city, and as I explored it, I found an entire sub-category of garden-related Sidewalk Joy! I had no idea that two seed exchanges exist within a 10-minute walk from my house. As I went down the map’s rabbit hole, I realized that almost all of these spots of joy, regardless of their theme, are located in gardens and that more than a dozen of them are actually garden themed, including seed libraries, a free flower stand, and house plant and seedling exchanges.
I got in touch with the one of the creators of the PDX Sidewalk Joy Map, Rachael Harms Mahlandt to talk more about the map–which led me to take a tour of serveral garden Sidewalk Joy spots that were so fun, and frankly joyful, that I can’t stop thinking about what I want to build in my own yard.
How did the Sidewalk Joy Map come to be?
I have two young kids, and when the pandemic was in full force, I was going kind of stir crazy. So we made an Adventure Club together and we just started trying to get out and explore Portland. One of the things that came to my attention was the Morrison Street Mini Gallery. It's on Atlas Obscura as one of the things to check out in Portland. And it's just basically a little free library that, instead of being open for book trading, it's locked and displays a new, local artist with their work in miniature every month. It’s just just so darling. Then another friend was like, “Hey, while you guys are out having this adventure, you might want to check out my neighbor who seems to have some kind of rubber duck trading exchange on their steps.” And, you know, word of mouth led me to these places around town and I was just absolutely delighted to find these little invitations to engage.
I felt like I wanted to create my own spot so I could have an excuse to chat with other people who created these spaces. So I made our first Dinorama diorama with dinosaurs, and I started using my Instagram to update the scene as I changed it. But also, more importantly, I was really excited to tell the stories of these other spaces. And then somebody suggested that a map be made. So I teamed up with another person, Grant Brady [who has the art installation PDXFLAG] and we made the first version of the map, and it kind of took off from there.
And now the map is not just in Portland, right? You launched a Worldwide Sidewalk Joy Map last year.
I wanted to do a worldwide map to celebrate these spaces and inspire other people. I thought someone could look at a map and see that there was a spot nearby. Or if you found your area doesn't have any spots, maybe you would make one! It's been really fun connecting on the worldwide scale. Going into it, I didn’t think the worldwide map would have quite the same impact as the Portland map because we can all actually go visit each other, and worldwide, that's much harder. But I have been proven very wrong! There’s now, like, Sidewalk Joy tourism. There's actually two people visiting me today. We're meeting in person for the first time after chatting online for a year. They're coming over here from Illinois, where they have their own joy spot, and we're spending the day together. And there have been so many incidences like that, when people meet because of the map, or they travel to another spot because of the map, and so it actually is facilitating all of these connections worldwide that I had secretly hoped for, but wasn't necessarily expecting to come true.
Having built the Dinorama, do you have any tips for people wanting to make their own Sidewalk Joy spot?
I think these spots work best when you are tailoring them to both your interests and maybe what your community's interests are. So if you're an avid gardener, and you love collecting seeds, then start by collecting some extra seeds and sharing them. It will feel especially exciting when someone brings you seeds back!
If you don’t know where to start, because you’re not a builder, just know that many spots have been made that are not built from scratch. There is a comics cottage with, you know, graphic novels and stuff, and that was made out of an old ballot box. A lot of the toy exchanges are very simple shelves, with no door, no glass, no roof, that's been coated in exterior paint. So just get creative! If your spot has exterior paint on it, and a roof or overhang or something to protect it from the elements, you're kind of good to go. It doesn't have to be built from scratch.
Is vandalism ever a problem?
Acts of vandalism happen so much less than people would think. It's easier as humans to picture the physical destruction of a space than to picture the intangible joy and community that spaces like this bring. But once you've built a spot like this, you realize that the spot itself is a conduit, a touchstone for tons of ideas and sparks and connections. I definitely cannot tell you that nothing will ever happen to a spot you build, but I will say that these spaces take on so much more of a life than the physical boxes. We have over 130 spots in Portland and when you think about the number of people who walk by these hundreds of spaces every day, just enjoying them and treating them kindly, you realize that they are actually a big beacon–an invitation–to people who want to build community, not tear it down.
I stopped by the Free Flower Stand on my way to work and ran into it’s creator–Georgina Ottaviano, who was coming out of her backyard decked out in flowered overalls and on her way to cut some flowers! Georgina is an artist and quilter and she set up the flower stand because she loves how much joy it brings to people walking by.
She told me she gets letters and notes from people all the time telling her how much finding the flowers helped them out and was just what they needed. And, it’s true! I stopped back by the stand on my way home and was so excited to find two vases of flowers inside. When I opened the doors to the stand the scent of sweet peas wafted out. I spent some time looking over all the hand-painted scenes–and a black cat (just like the one painted inside the stand!) came up to me and said hello.
If you come by the Free Flower Stand be sure to also look down. Sam is an artist who makes temporary chalk art around Portland and Georgina said he almost always creates a piece of art at the end of her driveway.
I also visited the North Tabor Free Seed Library which is perched on the railing of a big old craftsman house. Free “mystery squash” plants were out on the steps and I was delighted to find hand-stamped packets of seed to take inside. I left a packet of ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ pumpkin seeds.
When I got home I popped by the Woodstock Seed Library. Which happens to also be next to a mug exchange and dog treat station! I opened up the the seed library to find it stocked with veggie, herb, and flower seeds, supplies for making labels and taking seeds, and a sign-up sheet for the Woodstock Garden Collective–a community of gardeners who like to connect right in my own neighborhood!
I finished up my day of Sidewalk Joy tourism at the Woodstock Native Plant Library, which is located in a right-of-way that is owned by the city but was untended for years. So the neighbors teamed up to remove a huge blackberry bramble and plant native plants instead. One of the co-creators of the library was out watering her yard and she told me that the her neighbor, who is passionate about native plants, got the idea for the library and built it and then the kids on the block decorated it.
In addition to the seed exchange, they had a kiosk with brochures on native plants that do well in our area and a funny sign about getting rid of your lawn!
I had so much fun checking out these sidewalk joy spots! My 12-year old and I are plotting a day where we ride bikes to more spots around the city that caught our eye on the map. If you want to see if you have any Sidewalk Joy Spots in your community—or if you want to let people know about a spot in your yard—check out the worldwide map! And if you have your own Sidewalk Joy idea, here are some more of Rachael’s tips for creating your very own spot!
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