Found any plastic babies on the SouthCoast? How a mistake grew into a political statement
NEW BEDFORD — Tiny plastic one-inch babies are popping up around the New Bedford dining scene and they are meant to be a conversation starter.
"Would you like a gift?" asked Julia Smith, 22, before placing a plastic baby in a woman's hand at Cultivator Shoals on Wednesday.
"Now you have to name it," she quickly said.
Since April, Smith and her friends have been gifting people mini toy babies as well as hiding them around the New Bedford area and surrounding communities.
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Smith said it all started after she accidentally ordered 200 plastic babies on Amazon. "It's just a funny little talking point to like go up to somebody and be like here's your present and then it's a little baby," she said.
"It always makes them laugh at the bare minimum," she said.
However in June, when Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, Smith said gifting people babies opened up an entirely new conversation.
"I would gift someone a baby, and they would say, 'I don't want it' and I would respond like isn't it nice to be able to have a choice to have a baby or not," she said. "It is a controversial thing to say, but it is something that matters so much."
Smith said the idea of finding a tiny plastic baby somewhere, especially unwanted or unclaimed and waiting for someone else to find, could be a metaphor for a grim real-life problem in the near future.
"It just provokes that conversation a little bit," she added.
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Where the babies are mostly hidden
Smith, who had placed one at Fort Phoenix earlier in the day, said she has hidden them also in Fairhaven, Westport, Fall River, Providence and recently at the Tennessee Music Festival.
"I hid like 75 of them in one day a few weeks ago," she said, adding that she recently ordered 200 more. "I see it all over social media, random pictures of people who will find them. It's like gone completely full circle."
According to Smith, most are hidden inside New Bedford restaurants such as Moby Dick's Brewing Co, Cultivator Shoals, Union Flats, Pour Farm Tavern and Play Arcade.
"I have collected four of my own. I have them in my room," said Emma Knowles, a waitress at Play. "We will be cleaning up and will find a baby. I love it."
"They are everywhere and anywhere, I'll be like 'oh another baby' and hand it over to Emma," said Travis Burton, head bartender.
Hiding objects around town is not new. For instance, geocaching is a popular activity that features small containers hidden in parks and on nature trail.
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In some cultures, finding a toy baby can also be a sign of good luck. According to The Washington Post, the Mexican tradition Epiphany features a baby figurine hidden inside a rosca de reyes, a ringed cake topped with fruit in the colors of the Mexican flag.
Tradition dictates that whoever finds the baby must bring tamales to the Feb. 2 celebration of Dia de la Candelaria, or Candlemas Day, and will receive a blessing of good fortune for the year ahead.
Smith, who moved to New Bedford in January, said she did know about the tradition until she started hiding the toy babies, but loves the connection.
"I feel like we live in such a dark world and so many times, like I'll go out and people don't want to interact with strangers and talk to each other," the Marion native said.
"This helps with that and I love how far it has gone so far."
Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Tiny plastic babies placed around SouthCoast after Roe overturned
