At first glance, they appear to be posters advertising lawn care services or asking for help finding a lost dog; small signs taped up to lamp posts, complete with pull-off tabs along the bottoms.
But the paper signs on posts along a quiet street in the Lynnwood neighbourhood in southeast Calgary come with a much different message.
“If you’re having a bad day, take a smile and have a good one,” reads one of the signs.
Instead of the usual phone number on the pull-off tabs, these ones come with a small smiley face on them.
“People just take a little smile so they feel better,” 12-year-old Matilda Robicheau said.
She’s been making the “happy signs” using markers, taping them up on posts for the past week.
“The reason I started making these was because I had a rough day at school and I was kind of upset,” Robicheau said. “But sometimes when I’m sad, making other people happy makes me feel happy.”
It’s an effort that provided a much-needed boost for Robicheau’s neighbour Melanie Ykema.
“I’ve been having kind of a rough time lately,” Ykema said. “I’ve been actually looking for a job since January.”
While she was on her way to an interview with a prospective employer, Ykema spotted one of Robicheau’s signs.
“I took one and I put it in my pocket,” Ykema said. “I’m a very strong believer in positive energy, so it made me feel a lot calmer about going into my interview. And then I landed the job.”
As she headed in for her first day with her new company, Ykema was thankful for the little smiley face tab that turned out to be a good luck charm.
“It’s fantastic!” Ykema said. “A creative way to show support for the neighbourhood.”
Robicheau has added an extra line to one of her posters: “Turn that frown upside down,” along with her drawing of a smiley face alongside a frowning face.
“She’s amazing!” Matilda’s father, Kevin Robicheau, said. “She’s always trying to make people feel better, always.”
Matilda Robicheau imagines various scenarios in which someone might appreciate her happy signs.
“Let’s just say they got into a small car accident or something,” she said. “And they just see this and then maybe they take one and then they’ll be more happy.”