Idling at a Colfax red light, it’s nearly impossible to stay sour in Denver traffic when a 2005 Ford Focus named Betsy pulls up alongside you. And why is that? Betsy is buried beneath thousands of colorful bumper stickers and on a mission for more. What looks at first glance like a rolling explosion of colorful vinyl is indeed a carefully curated community mosaic. Neighboring commuters can’t help but stare, smile and snap photos of the rolling piece of art.
Her driver, Judith Word, is on an official mission to break a Guinness World Record. Her goal is simple but staggering: hand-apply 69,000 individual bumper stickers to her daily driver.
“I call it the happy car for a reason. It’s genuinely a depression fighter for me,” Word says. “If I am sad, frustrated, upset, or just having a bad day, I can get in that car and take a drive, and somebody is almost guaranteed to smile, wave, or give me a thumbs-up. It’s very hard to stay in a bad mood when strangers are sharing that kind of happiness with you.”…