Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park Comes to Portland

A buzzy Seattle event is getting a Portland spinoff. Tomorrow afternoon, queer Portlanders (and carbo-loading allies) are invited to eat garlic bread together in Peninsula Park. The title of the event is pretty straightforward: “Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park.”

BYOGB.

The event is the brainchild of Olive Tumbarello, who has been promoting the event on her TikTok with the blessing of the original Seattle creators. (Think rainbows, a sizable baguette, and a little cartoon figure twerking to “Nasty” by Tinashe.)

Promotions of the May 13 Seattle event went viral with 1.8 million likes on TikTok, followed by ample local coverage of the hundreds of people who met up in Meridian Park for the simple joy of simple carbohydrates. The inspiration for the event runs a little deeper, though.

“There’s a lot of people in the queer community saying online dating apps are really difficult and speed dating comes with all this pressure,” Tumbarello says. “My thing was, let’s eliminate those things and bring a bunch of people together.”

Tumbarello scheduled Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park to coincide with Portland Pride month. The responses have been very positive in the lead-up, Tumbarello says, including from sober people who are grateful to socialize in a non-drinking environment and newly out folks who want a non-threatening place to meet other queer people.

People in other cities, including San Diego, have encouraged Tumbarello and her co-host Meg to take the show on the road.

“We’re not a traveling garlic bread production company, though it sounds like it might be a legitimate business at this point.”

GO: Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park, Peninsula Park Rose Garden, 700 N Rosa Parks Way.Balloons will be set up to guide people to the event. 5–7 pm Saturday, July 13. Free, but BYOGB.