Strolling around pretty much any Salt Lake neighborhood nowadays, you are guaranteed to find one of those "Little Free Libraries" with a random collection of books and magazines stashed in them. Most of their locations can be found through an extensive online database maintained by the nonprofit that started the craze (see: littlefreelibrary.org/map); however, a lot of the entries don't include photos of what the libraries look like which, in my opinion, is just as interesting as the reading material you might find inside.
The creativity of some of our fellow Salt Lake neighbors is really quite remarkable. I've come across intricately hand-carved boxes, a replica Union Pacific train cart and even one that looked like a British telephone box shrunk down to scale—a sly nod to the popular sci-fi TV series Doctor Who.
But the Little Free Libraries I like most are the ones that are miniature duplicates of the houses where they are located at. Two of these doppelgangers can be found in the Wasatch Hollow district of Sugar House and the University Gardens area of the East Central neighborhood (left to right in the above photos).
Although the vast majority of these small repositories are filled with books, there are a few that have other offerings. It's becoming more common to see Free Little Pantries pop up around town—perhaps the most well-known ones being located across from Liberty Park on 500 East and a cluster in Rose Park. To me, these are a sad reminder of the food insecurity needs of some households but an equally encouraging example of neighbors helping other neighbors.
Out of everything I've seen so far, my favorite "Little Free ..." box is the one located in Highland Park off of Parkway Boulevard. It serves as a small-scale gallery of painted rocks, figurines and artwork by both children and adults.
If you can't make it out there in real life to see it, you can still check out the rotating collection through the owner's Instagram account @freelittleartgalleryslc.
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