Couple's Daily Joke Signs Lift Spirits Amid Pandemic

WINFIELD, IL — Like most people, Winfield residents Marybeth Sauter and her husband, Eric, were hit hard by the pandemic. Marybeth teaches fifth grade at Wheaton Christian Grammar School and Eric is an event technologist, so both Sauters had to adjust to some drastic changes in March 2020. One way of dealing with these changes has been to post a hand-written joke on a dry-erase board at the end of their driveway, in the 27W100 block of Evelyn Street, every day since April 11.

“It just felt like there was a lot of heaviness around,” Marybeth Sauter told Patch as to why they began posting the jokes. “Sometimes it's just the smallest thing that makes you have a little bit of hope and makes you feel better about your day," she added.

For inspiration, Sauter turned to joke books in her classroom. Since April, she and Eric have posted more than 260 jokes. Eric brings out the board with a new joke each night when he takes the couple's dog outside.

Sauter told Patch it's been heart-warming to see the reaction the jokes get from people. She said kids will run up ahead of their parents or ride their bikes by themselves to the home to try to sound out the jokes. Parents have told Sauter, "Our kids beg us to go on a walk to go past the joke house.”

Sauter said she and Eric have even met neighbors they never knew before because of how popular the jokes have been.

“Some of them are groaners, and some of them are better," Sauter said of the jokes. She said one of her favorite jokes was, "What's the difference between boogers and broccoli?" The answer? "Kids don't eat broccoli."

She and Eric now include a bit about national holidays, such as Taffy Day and Maple Syrup Day, and they try to tailor the jokes to match the current holiday thematically. Sauter plans to continue the tradition daily as long as the pandemic continues, and perhaps longer.

Sauter said “I hope [the joke board] says to people, ‘We see you. We know you need encouragement.’”