Piece by piece: Pandemic puzzle exchange in Cambridge, Ont. still thriving

Looking over the incomplete 2,000-piece puzzle laid out on a desk in her Cambridge, Ont. basement, Yvette Bellaire wonders how much the hundreds of puzzles she's built over the past few years might've cost. 

Hundreds of dollars? Thousands?

That's likely the case since she averages about two to three puzzles a week.

But thanks to a Hespeler jigsaw puzzle exchange Facebook group she started in 2021, she hasn't paid a dime.

"I love the fact that we're exchanging puzzles constantly and saving so much money," Bellaire said.

Bellaire said the pandemic was a perfect time to start the group. She used to go out to buy her own, but she said restrictions made that a lot more difficult.

So instead, she created her own community.

"I've got a set ready to give to someone now. I mean, I've got probably 50 odd puzzles stored away," said Bellaire.

"You get to learn which members like which themes and so on. It's just really exciting and super economical. Because puzzles are so expensive."

Bellaire said she was inspired by the Buy Nothing groups that started cropping up during the pandemic, where people shared what they had and gave things away. It was her husband that said to her: "Why don't you do this for puzzles?"

"And now we're 170 in the group," she said. "And growing."

At the time the group was created, Bellaire was new to Cambridge's Hespeler Village. Looking back, Bellaire said the group helped her settle into her new home.

"I love it," she said. "I've never seen anything like the Hespeler community for giving and sharing and donating. It's just incredible."

Across town, down by the Speed River that splits the village in half, a small red dresser sits in Tracy MacDonald's front yard. Hanging above it is a handmade sign reading: "Little Free Puzzle Library."