{"id":1038941,"date":"2026-09-02T13:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1038941\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:48:25","slug":"meet-chicagos-bubble-lady-filling-buses-with-bubbles-and-hearts-with-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1038941\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Chicago’s ‘Bubble Lady,’ Filling Buses With Bubbles And Hearts With Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 A little girl on the verge of tears suddenly forgot what had upset her when a stream of bubbles floated her way at Navy Pier.<\/p>\n

She reached out her hands, her frown giving way to a smile as Bridget Josey blew more bubbles toward her.<\/p>\n

Josey, 61, smiled too. She had seen this reaction before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Josey has made it her mission to bring bubbles \u2014 and joy \u2014 to people wherever she goes.\u00a0She\u2019s becoming so well-known, people are referring to her as the \u201cBubble Lady<\/a>.\u201d One video of her<\/a> on a bus has more than 200,000 views on Instagram. <\/p>\n

She carries small bubble guns around the city, pulling them out at festivals and baseball games, on CTA buses, along Navy Pier \u2014 \u201ceverywhere,\u201d she said. \u201cI gotta keep them on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to spread some joy with my bubbles,\u201d Josey said. \u201cIf I can see a smile where I didn\u2019t see one before, that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whole thing started almost by accident.<\/p>\n

Josey has always loved bubbles, since she was a kid, but she didn\u2019t start bringing them around Chicago with any grand plan. She began playing with them with her 5-year-old grandson, and the two of them loved it so much that she started blowing bubbles on her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like a big kid,\u201d Josey said. \u201cI\u2019m 61, but I\u2019m still a kid at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Bridget Josey, aka the Bubble Lady, blows bubbles for strangers at Navy Pier on Aug. 28, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

After she went to the Taste of Chicago earlier this summer, Josey hopped on a crowded CTA bus and headed home. She had bubbles with her since she had been with her grandson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ll blow a few,\u2019\u201d Josey said. \u201cI blew a few and then the people started screaming on the bus. It was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Oh, OK, they like it. They like it as much as I do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She was surprised the bus driver didn\u2019t tell her to stop. Instead, she said, he seemed to enjoy it too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of brought joy to people\u2019s day and that\u2019s kind of what started it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The reaction stuck with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, I wanted to do it more because I saw the people\u2019s faces and I saw that it kind of made them happy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her family encouraged her to create an Instagram account so people could follow along and tag her. Josey hardly knew what Instagram was.<\/p>\n

Her followers soon started asking for more. One commenter wrote, \u201cI wanna be on that bus!! That shows how much we need to lean into being more whimsical and simple joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another called for a weekly bubble event: \u201cLet\u2019s all get the bubbles ready!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, people ask her where she will show up next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are you going to be? When are you going to pop up? What bus are you on?\u201d are among the questions she gets.<\/p>\n

So she keeps showing up.<\/p>\n

Since that first bus ride, Josey and her bubbles have popped up at the Black Women\u2019s Expo, the Taste of Chicago, a White Sox game<\/a> and Lollapalooza, where she said she ended up running into festival founder Perry Farrell. She, of course, blew bubbles his way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gotten to the point that Josey has been recognized in public, like recently at a grocery store.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody spots me, then I will bring them out immediately,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On one recent bus ride, Josey noticed some passengers who looked tired and down. She hesitated, unsure whether they wanted to be bothered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then the passengers, who were in the back, got off the bus and back on at the front, near Josey, and got her attention. She pulled out her bubbles and there was sudden \u201cpure joy on the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week at Navy Pier, Josey carried two bubble guns as she walked along the lakefront \u2014 one shaped like Nemo from \u201cFinding Nemo,\u201d the other decorated like a mermaid princess.<\/p>\n

It was her first time bringing the bubbles to the pier, one of her favorite places in the city.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t have to wait long for a reaction.<\/p>\n

Children reached toward the bubbles as they floated past. People waved their hands through them. One little girl grabbed one of Josey\u2019s bubble machines and tried handing it to her mother.<\/p>\n

When Josey blew bubbles toward a group of women, one of them smiled and said, \u201cThis is so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, she sent a stream of bubbles toward a couple taking photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is so sweet,\u201d a woman in the group said.<\/p>\n

A Navy Pier worker stepped out of a ticket booth saying, \u201cI need some of those,\u201d and immersed himself in a cloud of bubbles, arms stretched out and eyes closed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bridget Josey, aka the Bubble Lady, blows bubbles at Navy Pier on Aug. 28, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

A woman visiting from Seattle with her family stopped to have her picture taken with Josey.<\/p>\n

Josey appreciated all the reactions around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe all the people I encounter today, they\u2019ll have a bit more joy because my bubbles touched them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Josey, the bubbles have become more than a way to make strangers smile.<\/p>\n

\"\"A visitor from Seattle smiles as Bridget Josey, aka the Bubble Lady, blows bubbles for strangers on a CTA bus near Navy Pier on Aug. 28, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

She talks about joy almost as a philosophy. She hopes the bubbles can be part of a larger message about choosing joy even when life is difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so much happening now in the world and if I can take them away for just minutes, I\u2019ll do it,\u201d Josey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t like something, let\u2019s change it. Let\u2019s change it because think about it, we all woke up today. I\u2019m going to be happy in this day because I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to be here tomorrow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When she isn\u2019t out with her bubbles, Josey works in Chicago doing records and information management for the federal government, attends church or spends time with her family in the city. Josey, who grew up on the South Side, now lives in south suburban Lansing.<\/p>\n

She hopes the bubble project might eventually grow beyond spontaneous encounters on buses and at festivals. She has thought about bringing them to nursing homes or children\u2019s hospitals.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s her dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis might sound crazy, but I want to have a bubble event,\u201d Josey said. \u201cSomewhere big like this [Navy Pier] and everybody\u2019s got a gun \u2014 about 100 people with bubble guns and all we see is bubbles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s blowing their gun and it\u2019s a big area, and we\u2019re all happy with our bubbles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Bridget Josey, aka the Bubble Lady, blows bubbles for strangers on a CTA bus near Navy Pier on Aug. 28, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

\"\"Bridget Josey, aka the Bubble Lady, restocks her bubbles at Navy Pier on Aug. 28, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t