Lucy's advice booth in Peanuts was the model for The Booth Fairy Project's, but this version has a different menu. Free advice, gluten-free hugs, staring contests, and standing ovations are all on it.
Elle Erickson, the founder, started volunteering young, with Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Metrolina Association for the Blind, and never got over how good giving back feels. By the project's own count, it has grown roots in Western North Carolina over about 15 years. People in Asheville, Austin, Miami, and New York have since hired it for parties, weddings, festivals, and corporate events. The fairy dust is included.
The Booth Fairy Project calls itself a mobile happiness delivery service, and it's closer to a kindness movement. The advice booths pop up on street corners, at festivals, and in breweries. Bliss Mobs take over busy sidewalks with smiles and positive signs, like a flash mob crossed with free hugs. Nursing home visits bring kazoo serenades, teddy bears, and mini dance parties. Vintage clothing pop-ups mix local artists, tarot, and a "shance," which is shopping and dancing, as a swing at fast fashion.
The work is funded mostly by more than 200 monthly supporters on Patreon, which pays for trash clean-ups, murals, and the nursing home visits.
Happiness delivered. Fairy dust included.
