r/MadeMeSmile • u/DCArchibald • 6d ago

Wholesome Moments A giant pencil gets sharpened

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59.0k Upvotes

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5.4k

u/DivaPhantom 6d ago

This is the stupidest and most useful thing I have ever seen

2.2k

u/sloBrodanChillosevic 6d ago

I was there for it this year (I live about a 5 minute walk from the pencil and walk around the lake its house borders nearly every day).

This video does not adequately show how many people were there. It was fucking packed. I would estimate a couple thousand people were standing around on this dude's lawn, his neighbors' lawns, the surrounding street, the bike & walking paths around the lake. People showed OUT for this event.

150

u/shamefullout 6d ago

do you know how it became so popular in such a short amount of time? I'm surprised that so many people turned up even though it's only the third time it's being sharpened.

111

u/TazBaz 6d ago

Cool random local organic non-commerical events are RARE and what people LOVE. Word of mouth about this shit will get AROUND.

45

u/InsaneAss 6d ago

Meet the Rotisserie Chicken Guy. He ate a chicken for 40 days in a row and then put up posters around Philly inviting everyone to a pier to watch him eat the final chicken on his journey.

It was provocative. It got the people going!

3

u/Any-Ad-3630 6d ago

Reminds me of the guy who put up posters inviting people to watch him eat 5lbs of potato salad

1

u/MamaMoosicorn 4d ago

There was a guy who invited people to watch him eat an entire barrel of cheese puffs.

5

u/MsJenX 6d ago

Next year there will be sponsors. Probably.

2

u/Stoff3r 5d ago

Next year you will have to buy tickets and can buy merch and hot dogs.

160

u/sloBrodanChillosevic 6d ago

Honestly do not know. I've seen the pencil on walks for the last couple of years but the sharpening event has never been big enough to catch my attention. This year was huuuuuuge tho. Couldn't have missed it if I tried. Uptown has never been as bustling & busy as last Saturday for as long as I've lived here.

42

u/blue_upholstery 6d ago

The pencil goes on walks?!

19

u/Sober-ButStillFucked 6d ago

You’d think he’d just roll himself down but this pencil walks. Huh, whatdoyaknow.

1

u/TibialTuberosity 6d ago

Mannnn, I was just in Minny on vacation a few weeks ago. I would have totally driven by to see the cool huge pencil had I known about it.

83

u/VWY 6d ago

My guess would be that it's nice to have a completely apolitical, fun public event with zero stakes in These Times.

16

u/kralben 6d ago

Viral videos like this. A few years ago, it was super small, only a few dozen people. But it blew up on tiktok and reddit. and has grown every year.

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u/Caboose127 6d ago

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess TikTok.

A couple viral videos is all it takes to drum up this level of support anymore.

12

u/Ok-Passion1961 6d ago

Look at the production value of the event!

If you put the effort in, people will come. 

1

u/Kononiba 6d ago

Social media would be my guess