Pillow Fight Day

Unbeknownst to many, last Saturday was International Pillow Fight Day, and the list of participating cities was quite impressive in scope. (Sao Paulo? Székesfehérvár?) Since I couldn't go to the Chicago gathering, I suggested to Liz that we try to join the pillow fight in D.C. There were, in fact, two taking place that day, one on the National Mall and the other at Dupont Circle, and the timing worked out perfectly such that we were at Dupont Circle at the appointed hour.

Since we didn't have pillows with us, the next task was to procure the necessary equipment so that we could participate rather than simply watch (which would have been quite lame). In the immediate vicinity was a CVS and a Books-a-Million, and we decided the CVS would be the more likely candidate to sell pillows. After asking if they carried pillows, the woman behind the counter gave us a long look and pointed us to the travel section, where neck pillows (for use on planes) were available. This seemed unsuitable, sort of like bringing a piddling water gun to a fight against a firehose. Just as we were about to give up, Liz turned around to discover...a dog bed. It was the type without raised sides, essentially a very large, dog-sized pillow, and it was on sale for the low price of $9.95. Bingo!

Back at Dupont Circle, we staked out a spot on the grass and tried to figure out which people were here for the pillow fight, and which people were muggles. The instructions had said we should conceal our pillows for maximum surprise, flash-mob style, so several people were carrying suspiciously puffy shopping bags. In a rather ingenious move, one fellow was holding a large stack of pizza boxes, which turned out to be hollowed in the center to hide his pillow. At about 3:05 pm, an "argument" was started between two of the fight organizers, who jokingly shouted for a bit, then started swinging pillows at each other. At least 50 or 75 people rushed to join the melée, myself included. I started whacking anyone within reach, lightly bopping people young and old, suited and mohawked, white, black and green. People were shouting, smiling, singing "Olé Olé," and jumping into the fountain with abandon. It was the most exuberant experience I've ever had with a crowd of strangers.

After about a half-hour or so, the fight tapered off as we all exhausted ourselves. Who knew that swinging pillows was such an excellent upper-body workout? Then, with shouts of "To the bar!" the crowd began to disperse. Subsequently, Liz and I were left with the unappealing prospect of carrying around a dog bed for the rest of the day. Thinking that it should go to someone who could use it, we approached a couple people walking dogs, and politely asked if they would be interested in a clean, lightly pummeled dog bed. Alas, our offers were rebuffed both times since the pet owners also did not want to carry around a dog bed. At that point, we decided to leave the dog bed on a sidewalk with a note attached, indicating that the dog bed was free. I do hope this didn't later result in phone calls to the police department for "suspicious packages."

Oh yes, before we left Dupont Circle, we were accosted by a guy with a camcorder, who asked us to say a few words on the pillow fight. So, somewhere out there, we are on camera explaining how we came to be holding a large dog bed. I wasn't able to find this online, however here is some footage of the pillow fight, though I didn't spot either of us on camera.