We opened the Relic Jar

We set out a jar at the Blueberry Festival as an invitation: leave a relic, a scrap of memory, a thing that means something to you (or nothing at all), and help us build a little time capsule, a Relic Jar, if you will, of the 4-day weekend. Over the course of the festival, hands fed the jar with souvenirs, snacks, charms, and fragments of a hundred stories. Now it sits sealed and smug on our table, full of the weird and wonderful tokens you left us. Below: the objects we found in it, each a tiny mystery that tells the secrets of those who gave it away...

Cameo Pin

A classic cameo slipped into a modern festival jar feels delightfully conspiratorial. It looks like it fell off the throat of a Victorian lady from an Austen novel. We imagine it whispering the local gossip over teacups and crumpets whenever there's someone to listen. Whoever owned this delightful trinket knew our relic jar needed a bit of elegance and mystery!

Coupons

Culinary relics stand apart in an odd fellowship: savings for a future feast. One promises crispy sesame chicken, another a savory pizza baked with equal enthusiasm. They read like a map of very specific late-night delusions. Which of these were meant to be someone's next meal?

Two Guitar Picks

Tiny tools of loud confession. Their edges have probably told a few melodies or been nervously chewed during a particularly honest chorus. They belong to someone who carries songs in their pockets. What tunes has each pick heard this summer?

a Festival First-Aid kit

Dermabond wound closure, an individually packaged Lactaid, and a dinosaur bandaid. Together they form one fellowship of the festival first-aid kit. Practical, oddly tender, and precisely the kind of trio that plans for everything.

A Well-Read Duck

A librarian among bath toys. It sits in the jar, smugly reading a red tome. The image of a happy duck clutching literature is a new favorite mood. Who tucked this little bibliophile into the Relic Jar? They're probably pretty cool.

Various Glass Gems and Beads

Light collectors, scattering color, looking like little pieces found at the bottom of the craft barrel, or smuggled out of a fairy's pocket. Each one could've tumbled from a little jewelry box. Maybe it was once something shiny someone plucked off the street? Where have they rolled before finding their way to be the glittering beacons of our Festival Relic Jar?

A Rock from Lake Michigan

So named because it was what it's previous owner whispered to us as they let the rock gently fall from their hands into the jar. Stamped by waves, it's smooth skin makes it the perfect flat, round object to skip across the water's surface. We can almost smell the sand and possibilities (and probably sunscreen). A true regional ambassador, heavy with history. What has this stone of ages seen in it's long life, only to end up here?

A Coin from Across the Pond

This little British pound traveled further than most of us this summer! After mulling over what to add to our trinket jar, the owners' eyes lit with opportunity as they recalled their European vacation souvenir. It's a tiny passport stamp, a metallic postcard with the faint echo of unfamiliar sidewalks. Which street did it jingle down last?

Pins

Two pins, both alike in dignity, in fair Plymouth where we lay our scene. They wear their truth boldly, and a bit cheeky. One says, 'Oh Deer, I'm Queer', while the other calls out, 'Session Boldly'. Together they remind us that curiosity is also the courage to show up as you are, as pins can be the ultimate statement piece.

Master Piece

A single Lego that insists its a Masterpiece, like one of DaVinci's finest. It's small and certain of it's importance, much like us. It begs questions about what it once was part of, and what it could build next? Also, much like us.

A True Festival Lost-and-Found

A heroic little dino keychain with it's own backstory tattooed on its belly. Donated by a teen who found it while working at high school parking. The long hours of monotony were surely broken up by this curious little find!

Game Over?

A tiny arbiter of fate and a player-piece. They look ready to join a game of Jumanji or another equally curious game of chance. What nights of frivolity have they overseen? What family feuds have they started? Are their game-winning days over now that they reside in the Relic Jar?

Earthy Delights

An earthy offering of mulch from a nearby playground, and two fluffy feathers. Curious trinkets given by Mother Nature, herself! Each laid in the jar by a little child, an earnest offering of all that they could happily be parted with, and we respect that deeply. It anchors the jar to place: the swings, the scraped knees, the shrieks of joy, the nature walks. We can almost hear the laughter that walked this mulch into our jar.

Badge of Courage

A tiny emblem of authority and make-believe bravery. A badge that declares responsibility with the confident flourish only children possess. The little boy who parted with this toy must have imbued it with his mischievous play before sensing that he must leave his badge behind in a festival Relic Jar to watch over the jar's secrets...

Jewelry

A small constellation on a chain, textural wrist-warmers, and a bent ring. These are the stuff of friendship bracelets, hurried goodbyes, and lost promises. Layered together, they feel like a hand held too long, and a teenage dream that will never die...Who wore these trinkets of friendship, and did they know the soundtrack to someone's lost summer?

The Shameless Plugs (AKA Stickers)

Promotional relics that could start movements, or at least a listening session. The podcast of a beer lover's dream, and a travel agency that wants to take you places you've never been. They are the festival's tiny billboards for future adventures and intimate conversations. They'll stick anywhere you put them, even in your heart.

Key Companions

Once sitting on a keyring beside their metal companions, these tokens were carried in pockets and purses and jingling a happy tune (one of them quite literally can sing). The whistle remembers being urgent and useful...it seems poised to announce something important. We're tempted to blow it just to see what happens.

Sweets and Treats

Werther's Original, Lifesaver mint, Gin Gin Candied Ginger, and a full pack of Wrigley's Spearmint gum (oh, and we can't forget the lone Cheerio and two Smarties). A random assortment of treats that looks like it could've been emptied from the bottom of your grandmother's purse. Now they reside as a type of pocket-candy cabinet of curious sweets. The lone Cheerio is a museum-worthy statement on snack minimalism.

Tweezers

Utility and decorum, unmatched. Tiny problem-solvers that can pluck a splinter from a hand, or a hair from a chin. We just know whoever carried them was ready for anything.

Bottle Caps

Caps are the fallen hats of good afternoons. These two were from two very different toasts: one sweet adn curious, the other strong and hoppy. They clinked into the jar like the tiny crowns for beverages they are. What conversations did they overhear before being tossed in our jar of festival relics?

Office Instruments

The toolkit of bureaucracy: a pen for signing mysterious documents, crayons for emotional outbursts, paperclips to keep documents (and secrets) together, an eraser for undoing regret, and a safety pin for wardrobe malfunctions at the office. Its basically like your house's junk drawer got emptied into the jar.

Tools

Small, but mighty, these two look like they fell out of a gnome's toolbox. They whisper of flat-packed furniture conquered (or just put-together). They're the unsung heroes packaged with styrofoam and particle board. What did they last tighten before tightening their grip on our curiosity?

Tiny Toys

The monkey sticks out his tongue and gestures, "rock on." The creature grins mischievously, staring into our soul with eyes from another dimension. Santa shows up to keep things festive. It feels like either a really bad joke, or the cast of a low-budget film. Who carried these pocket-sized companions into the festival?

Hair Accessories

The secrets of a hairstyle revealed! A single ribbon, tied thoughtfully into a bow. A verdant hair tie, green with nature's own hue. A hair pin plucked from a freshly coiffed bun. If the Relic Jar isn't enough for you to let your hair down, what is?

A Baby toy, A Scrap of paper, A Bag, A cap, An Ear Piece & A Battery

Miscellaneous though they seem at first, these scraps of memory hold a bit of magic, still...Each carried thoughtfully into the festival with the sole purpose of reaching their ultimate goal: to become a part of the living archive of Curioaks. Once forgotten little mementos or humanity, now preserved forever in the Festival Relic Jar of the Marshall County Blueberry Festival 2025.

Words of Encouragement

The jar, it seems, also collected a pocket-sized sermon. Smiley faces beam like street preachers (or at least the little booklets they give out at their festival booth) say, "Jesus Loves You". The highly correct card says, "You are worthy of love" in bold lettering. In need of a Bible app? This next card points the way to a digital gospel download. They're all like a fortune cookie for the soul...equal parts sweet, sincere, and heartfelt.

Which trinkets should get a Story?

Here's where we need you to chime in and tell us which relics from the jar should get a new, bigger story, where we delve into it's (supposed) past and give a history lesson the Curioaks' way...with mystery, intrigue, and a whole lotta whimsy. Let us know posthaste, and we'll begin the work of spinning tall tales and turning relics into memories.

Thanks for the Free Stuff, guys.

No really, thank you. TO everyone who dropped a relic, shared a grin, rifled through their pockets and purses and wallets looking for a token to toss in, we are ridiculously grateful that you played our little game. Every time we heard, "what a neat idea!" we knew we had found our people. We'll keep the relic jar on display in teh Curioaks' office until we can put it in our future new location (manifesting that dream like crazy). We'll use it as our reminder that curiosity doesn't pack up. It migrates, it multiplies, it makes new friends. Watch the full Festival Relic Jar reveal on our socials (Facebook and Instagram) to see each object unveiled with reverence. Thank you for bringing the glow to our little ideas. Without you all, it would've just been an empty jar.

~Stay Curious