The funny thing about being surrounded by people in gorilla suits is that after just a few minutes, it seems normal. People are talking to one another, making phone calls, taking photos, drinking water, but they just happen to be a little hairier than usual.

That observation startled me as I stood with my boyfriend in gorilla suits of our own, two of 1,061 gorilla-suited-people who gathered in Denver on Halloween to break a world record and raise money for the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund. By running a 5K in a gorilla suit.

When Patrick suggested the run, I thought it sounded like a fabulous idea. Who hasn’t secretly wanted to wear a gorilla suit at one point or another, just for the experience? (Don’t lie to yourself.) Plus, besides saving mountain gorillas, registering meant I’d get a gorilla suit FOR LIFE. No more Halloween costume questions, ever.

We picked up our gorilla suits and bought some cheap hippie-ish accessories to distinguish ourselves from the other thousand gorilla suits who’d be wandering the streets of Denver. Once we put on the glasses, headbands, and chains with peace signs, we looked eerily like aging, hairy, naked hippies.

So we gathered to run, and to my surprise, the best part of the event had nothing to do with the race or the world record. It happened while we milled about in the street while we waited for officials to tally the number of gorillas and tell us we had broken the world record for number of people in gorilla suits in one place. One side of the street was lined with buildings with restaurants in the first floor, topped by several levels of apartments.

I looked up and saw a man staring out of a second-story apartment window. He looked a little sleepy, and was wearing a classic silk bathrobe: striped, with polka-dot lapels. He looked out the window with a bemused expression, the kind I imagine anyone would have while having the internal debate about whether seeing 1,000 gorillas in the street means it’s the kind of morning when one should go back to bed.

A few minutes later, I looked up again and the man had returned with a camera. He smiled as he snapped a few pictures of the crowd, which must have looked pretty impressive from above. There were gorilla cops, gorilla brides, gorilla Denver Nuggets, and even a gorilla Statue of Liberty.

As we waited, the race officials announced that we had officially broken the world record. (Shattered it, really – the previous record had been a little over 600 gorillas in London.) The crowd started cheering, and then grunting like gorillas. The man at the window had come back again, this time with a cup of coffee, and was visibly laughing as he watched all of us celebrating.

I can’t imagine what he thought was going on, other than some kind of gorilla apocalypse scenario. But watching him sit and drink in our ridiculous revelry with that kind of sense of humor (and fantastic bathrobe) was a highlight of an already out-of-the-ordinary day. We do strange, funny things, and sometimes the best response you can get from someone is simply delight at the unexpected.

One Response to “Gazing at gorillas”

1. Reuben Scali Says:
   December 29th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

   Simply want to say your article is astounding. The clearness in your post is simply spectacular and i can take for granted you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with incoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the gratifying work.

Leave a Reply