Trinket trade boxes became popular in 2022 after artist Rachael Harms Mahlandt began mapping “little wonders” throughout Portland, Oregon, and turned it into a global guide that maps thousands of installations, including trinket trade boxes.

Videos of the trade boxes flooded Penn State alumna Laura Collazo’s TikTok feed in late 2025, and she knew she had to open one in State College.

Collazo even put it down as one of her New Year’s resolutions.

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The idea of a trinket trade box is similar to a free library, but instead of books, it is filled with trinkets. You bring a knickknack and leave it in a box in favor of one already there.

They can be found in cities around the world, but despite traveling, Collazo had never run into one organically.

“I didn’t want to hunt them down, and I also never had much time to do it whenever I went,” she said. “Sadly, I haven’t stumbled upon a single one, so that’s why I was even more determined to add one here.”

Collazo said State College made sense to her because the town had already given so much to her. She made the long trek to Penn State from Puerto Rico in 2020 to get her PhD in Chemistry before eventually switching to a project management degree.

The Penn State alumna now owns her own marketing firm and credits State College for helping her get there.

“This is where I built my first home as an adult in a sense, miles and miles away from home,” she said. “It’s given me so much that I wanted to do something to give back to the community and bring more whimsy into it.”

Once she had a location in mind, it was time to make a plan and execute it.

When State College announced it would test a seasonal pedestrian pocket park, East End Social, during the summer, Collazo knew it was the perfect place for a trinket box.

Thankfully, the town agreed, and Collazo’s pitch was accepted. Now she just had to make it work.

“It definitely takes a lot of work, but I know it’ll all be worth it in the end. It’s all feeling worth it already,” She said.

By July 14, the work was done, and Collazo opened the box, located on the 100 block of Hiester Street, between College Ave and Calder Way, to the public.

The community’s reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

Since its opening, people of all ages have been discovering the magic of the box, trading in unique trinkets for ones left by those before them.

“My favorite part is catching people organically finding the box, and they’re slowly opening it, like ‘what is this?'” she said.

Though the Happy Valley trinket trade box’s location is temporary, due to the East End Social ending in late August, Collazo has plans to move forward with a permanent location in the near future.

Collazo’s long-term vision is to create a trinket trail across Happy Valley, adding a more family-friendly version of things like beer and wine trails.

She also plans to do themed trinket drops, where she spotlights local artists by adding their work to the box for trading, or adding items that match a theme, such as her recent drop involving food-related items.

As for other ideas, Collazo said she would love to a National Hispanic Heritage Month in September and a Penn State theme drop in the future.