It’s been less than two weeks since the Portal opened in Philly.
Despite many people’s misgivings that the Portal could not survive Philadelphia, the installation connecting us to citydwellers in Lithuania, Ireland, and Poland has proved to be a popular addition to Center City, with large crowds still gathering in front of it daily. It’s generated plenty of wholesome and hilarious moments, plenty of which have been broadcast on Tik Tok and other social media.
Short of setting up camp in LOVE Park, there’s no way to catch all the joy and chaos ensuing in front of the Portal, but we’ve collected a highlight reel of the moments made public on the internet for all to see. Here are some of the best Portal incidents we could find documented on social media so far, in no particular order.
This is a very important experience to give our friends overseas who might not be familiar with Philly. Sadly, the Portal does not transmit sound, so the sick drum work was not heard in Europe.
A man from Lithuania held up a handwritten “Go Birds” sign to the screen, eliciting screams and cheers from the Philly side of the Portal.
If you take a glance at the comments, some Philadelphians say that man is indeed their go-to chiropractor.
Again, it’s sad that the experience from the other side of the portal would have been completely mute, but this is for us as much as it is for them.
This is the very same Dubliner who reportedly watched the portal for the entire first day of its Philly tenure.
Same guy. Someone should fly him out here. He likes hanging out with us!
Commenters said Gritty should be the next to make an appearance.
Tuesday saw a Get Out the Vote party-slash-concert with Quavo, Bill Nye the Science Guy, a brass band, and more in the middle of LOVE Park. It was part of a series called “Party to the Polls Purple Tour.” A man in Lithuania seemed confused. He may never understand the insanity of living in a swing state.
There’s one more incident we must address, but we won’t include a video in order to keep this article family-friendly.
The same famed OnlyFans model who flashed the portal in New York (and, fun fact, raised funds for the Trump campaign from her OnlyFans proceeds) did make it to Philly, and did give the portal the same treatment here. Ava Louise has vowed to follow and flash the portal across the world, so this probably won’t be the last we hear of her.
The incident happened about a week ago and the Portal is, luckily, still standing. Here’s to hoping we get many more weeks to make good, crazy, weird memories with this thing.
