Drivers keep stopping along this Cape Coral road for a tiny box filled with surprises

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

Along an otherwise ordinary stretch of Cape Coral, cars pull over for a sight that is anything but typical.

"You see, people pull up and they all park over here. They just wait. They wait in line and all interact with each other. It's kind of cool," said Kristina Delfosse.

What started as a tiny box outside of Delfosse's home has turned into a roadside exchange of joy.

"One day, my daughter was on TikTok, and she saw one in Orlando, and she’s like, 'We, why don’t we make our own?' And I’m like, 'Sure, you know, why not?'" said Delfosse.

The concept is simple: bring a trinket, take a trinket. And somehow, the smaller the toy, the bigger the reaction.

"I have tons of trinkets in my house that I love that I’ve had since high school, and I won’t ever get rid of them," said Delfosse.

It turns out that one person’s junk drawer is another person’s jackpot.

"It could be a collector's toy, obviously a McDonald’s toy," said Delfosse. "That's what I see it as. Sometimes, we've even gotten a Taco Bell sauce."

While the trades themselves may be tiny, the turnout is not.

What Delfosse expected to maybe attract a few curious neighbors quickly became more.

"The joy of just seeing kids come up and just being happy," said Delfosse.

In a world where most things feel expensive, here, happiness does not cost you.

Delfosse is teaming up with Fort Myers cafe Arts & Eats off McGregor Boulevard to put a trinket trade box outside the cafe.

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