Chances are there’s a curbside library in your neighbourhood. One of those take a book, share a book, do it yourself libraries that bring people together. Kayla Stauffer of Riverview, N.B., had a similar idea, but she’s exchanging coffee mugs, not books. She got the idea from a video on social media and thought it was a great way to bring the community together and have some fun, but she didn’t think it would be this big of a deal. “It has been unbelievable. I did not expect it to blow up the way it did. It’s gotten a lot of attention and people have been driving by and walking over. Lots of neighbours have been talking about it. It’s actually been cool,” said Kayla. Her husband put the coffee mug exchange up around a week ago and she thinks there has probably been more than 100 swapped since then. “There’s been a lot of attention,” said Kayla. “My father-in-law looks in the morning when he leaves for work and they’re different when he comes home.” ‘It’s fun to see the neighbours’ On July 12, Kayla made a post on the community Facebook page welcoming Riverview’s first little mug exchange to Patricia Avenue. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, with more than 200 comments supporting the swap. “It’s fun to see all the different mugs. It’s fun to see the neighbours and getting to chat with people. You kind of get to hear some stories. People have been putting positive notes in their mugs,” said Kayla. It’s taken the whole family by surprise, but her father-in-law Wes Stauffer wasn’t sold on it initially. “She was talking about this idea. It was something that she wanted. My son wanted to give her a gift for Christmas and he built this and I was a skeptic. I said, ‘This isn’t going to work. People aren’t going to be interested in this. We’re going to have a bunch of mugs sitting on our front lawn for no reason,’” said Wes. But he loves it now and enjoys when people bring their mugs and stop to chat. ‘It makes people feel good’ Wes said his daughter-in-law has a big heart. “It’s fun and it makes people feel good and that’s what our family is about. We want to spread the love and get along with everyone,” said Wes. “It’s something new and different.” Neighbour Carrie Dollard brought one of her mugs on Saturday. “I love the coffee mug exchange. I’m a big coffee drinker. I slow down every day just to have a quick peek. Today I stopped by, grabbed one on the way home and had to bring one back,” said Dollard. Kayla is also a coffee fanatic and loves seeing all the different mugs coming and going. “My husband doesn’t want me bringing them all into our house,” said Kayla. “I can still see the cool ones and not have our shelves full of them.” As for when she’ll take the mug exchange down, Kayla isn’t sure. The plan for now is to leave it up over the next several months into the holidays so people can swap Christmas mugs and spread some cheer. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
