After disappearing from Freak Alley, Boise’s tiniest exchange comes back bigger and better
This fall, a small metal locker attached to a light pole popped up in Boise’s Freak Alley with the words “Boise Trinket Exchange” painted on it.
Inside, dozens of keychains, toys and novelties could be found, and trinket traders across Boise traveled to the small box to exchange their treasures.
The box also displayed the link to an Instagram page, @boisetrinketexchange. The account posted pictures and videos of the box, and explained that this exchange was part of a larger movement centered on trading trinkets with others.
The face behind the account and idea was Ani Mechikoff, a Boise State alumna who graduated with a degree in Integrated Media and Strategic Communications in 2022.
Mechikoff was inspired by the Philadelphia Trinket Exchange, a trinket trading box located in Philadelphia, Pa. Hoping to bring the concept to Boise, she reached out to the owner of that box and purchased the same locker. Mechikoff decorated the box, stocked it with trinkets and placed it in Freak Alley on Oct. 26, 2025.
The idea was instantly beloved by trinket-lovers across the Treasure Valley. Every day, new treasures would appear in the box as other ones found new loving owners to go home with.
To the dismay of the small-but-mighty trinket community, the original box was short-lived. Less than one month after it was first put up, the box went missing.
Was it stolen? Removed by the city? It was, and still is, a mystery.
“I started getting messages pouring in from so many people being like, ‘Where’d it go? Why is it gone? What’d you do with it?’” Mechikoff recalled.
Despite her contact information being written on the box, no one has reached out to Mechikoff to tell her why it was taken down. She still does not know the whereabouts of the box.
“There was a group of four girls who said they went through every single dumpster from Freak Alley all the way to jump to see if they could find it if somebody dumped it,” she said. “It’s just gone.”
In spite of its absence, the spirit of the trinket exchange lived on. People continued leaving trinkets at the light pole the box used to hang on.
To fill the void in the Boise trinket-sphere, Mechikoff had an idea. While she worked on finding a new location for the next trinket exchange, she held trinket trade events where people could come together and exchange knick-knacks face-to-face.
The first trinket exchange was hosted at Isekai Arcade, a Japanese arcade in Boise. The turnout was bigger than Mechikoff ever expected with 63 attendees. By her third trinket exchange, over 100 people gathered.
“I was amazed at how many people showed up,” Mechikoff remarked. “So many people are craving that community, that whimsy and that creativity.”
“Trinkets are a very easy icebreaker,” she added, explaining that for introverted people, trinket-trading offers effortless connection.
“It’s a really good way to connect the community and share interests and meet new people,” said Kendra Mitchell, who attended the first trinket trade event.
Tables at the events were stocked full of all sorts of trinkets, offering something for everyone.
“I am a person who likes small little things full of whimsy, and being able to get little things that I can put as figurines on my shelves is just a lot of joy,” said Sarah Taush, another attendee of the first trinket trade. “It’s the little things in life, literally.”
In the trinket exchange box’s absence, the community grew larger than it ever had before, and members of the community eagerly awaited the announcement of where the next one would be. Mechikoff teased for weeks on Instagram that a new location was in the works.
After nearly two months, the wait is finally over. The new box has a new-and-improved home at Jack’s Urban Meeting Place (JUMP) in Boise, equipped with 24-hour surveillance and security.
“I’m just super excited to finally get the box back up, because I know that’s a lot of what people are wanting,” Mechikoff said.
The new box is decorated with art by local artist CeCe Liu, known on Instagram as @cece.artandhappiness. A local engineer 3D-printed custom shelves for the inside of the box. In addition, Mechikoff is partnering with local graphic designers and printing companies to create posters, t-shirts and other promotional items.
“Something that’s surprised me doing this whole thing is I’ve now gotten to meet and collab with a bunch of really cool people that I wouldn’t normally interact with, and I get to support small businesses,” she said.
Future trinket trade events will also be hosted at JUMP, offering a larger, more open space for the consistently growing crowds. According to Mechikoff, JUMP management felt that the trinket exchange was a perfect fit for their venue.
“One of [JUMP’s] unofficial mottos is ‘Surprise and Delight’, which is ultimately what this is,” Mechikoff said. “We’re going to kind of find a spot to hide it, in the sense [that] you have to go looking for it.”
Mechikoff was also invited to host a trinket trade event during Treefort Music Festival in the spring. The event will take place on March 27, 2026, from 4 to 6 p.m. in room 400 of the Boise Center East. Attendees will also be invited to check out the box at its new home in JUMP, helping the box’s fame grow during the festival.
The story of the Boise Trinket Exchange is one of resilience and strength of community, according to Mechikoff. While the momentum could have come to an abrupt end when the original box went missing, the trinket community stuck together.
“Whimsy and creativity go hand-in-hand with community,” Mechikoff said. “We kind of forgot how to be a community, how to be creative, whimsical, be inclusive of people, meet new people and interact with people.”
For Mechikoff, the success of the trinket exchange proves that people still desire that sense of connection and brings people joy through the simple act of trinket trading.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” she said. “Finding something in the trinket exchange or trading [trinkets] with somebody … can make [these items feel] a little more important to you, and that’s something that you’re going to hold on to.”
