^ Photo by Jorja Smith - Staff Photographer
V I fne's Day the crowd gathered despite the cold and downtown traffic to express their Valentine's Day feelings in a pillow fight.
Anti-Valentine’s Day pillow fight unifies Asheville on holiday
Pritchard Park carries on the Valentine’s Day tradition for another year
Alex Milstp>in
amilstei@unco.edu - Staff Writer
Asheville locals carried
town this Valentine’s Day, rather than the trad
tional rose bouquet, as they participated
nual anti-Valentine’s Day ritual.
A massive pillow fight raged on >« the middle
of Pritchard Park between young and old ah
dressed in costumes, war paint f ^
Tonev III, Asheville resident and participant
in JhTpillow fight, said this event brought out a
fun side of Valentine’s Day. Hallmark
“It’s a really great alternative to the Hallm^k
stereotvne that is Valentine s Day, Toney said.
•S most lovo I have seen people show
toward each other on Valentine’s Day m a really
lone time Everyone is just smiling and throwing
nifiows This is a really fun event to just come
together and have some fun on a day that you may
ordinarily look at as sad boting.
He said he heard about this event from a triend
and had no idea how it would actually turn out.
Itr he rent inside the pillow light p.t. he admtt-
ted it was more fun than he experted. ^
“ft was chaos Playful chaos,” Toney said. It s
a p ac“ here everyL can get along throw ptl-
£Tround and play like little k.ds. Some were
little kids, some were aduUs. student
at UNC AshSe, rlommends everyone go out
1 gto mis pillow «ght a try on Valen.me s Day,
“I heard from a friend that it was going to hap-
pen. s“ decided to go with them,” Adams satd.
Adams, who enjoyed the pillow fight pit, said it
was definitely something to experience.
“This was my first pillow fight, and it was really
crazy being in the middle of it all. It was also very
bizarre. I have never really been hit from so many
angles at once, and I think I probably hit everyone
at some point.”
Adams said he thinks the unique gathering gave
everyone a fun way to spend Valentine’s Day.
“It was neat how it almost seemed like a flash
mob just came together for a pillow fight. It’s a
good community event because it’s a fun way to
bring people together in a sort of violent way, but
still have fun and be safe. Pillow fighting is still a
thing, but people don’t really ever do it anymore,
especially in public, and so doing it was a fun ex
perience for me,” Adams said.
Joshua Reeves, an Asheville local, said he de
cided to have some fun with this event.
“I pretty much just stumbled upon this,” Reeves
said. “I had some buddies who were really excited
to just throw some pillows around, so I decided I
would go see what it was all about. It was interest
ing to see this many people fighting with pillows,
and it’s definitely not something you see every
day.”
Reeves, also a participant of the pillow fight pit,
said being in the pit guaranteed a wild time.
“I got my chocolate war paint on and just decid
ed to go hit a few people with pillows. It’s insane
in there. Pillows fly at you left and right and you
just swing around trying not to get hit. Everyone
here is so friendly though. They all help everyone
else have fun.”
Photo by Jorja Smith - Staff Photographer
Nathan Adams dodges pillows in the name of St. Valentine.