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SEATTLE — <\/span>This story has legs. Very long ones.<\/p>\n At a Seattle sports bar on a recent Saturday night, hundreds of very tall people got to experience something rare: blending in. Women in their highest heels craned their necks to look at someone taller. Men who usually duck under doorways looked ordinary. For once, nobody had to explain why they don\u2019t play basketball.<\/p>\n Welcome to Tall Tour, a traveling meetup drawing thousands across the United States to celebrate the one physical trait that has made them stand out \u2014 for good and ill. Since launching last summer, the tour has visited 19 cities, with crowds swelling from an initial 30 people in Tampa, Florida to some 4,000 in Orlando, according to organizers. Seattle drew around 750, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re walking around and there\u2019s people your height and people taller than you when you thought you were just this giant freak,\u201d said Tyler Bergantino, the tour\u2019s 6-foot-9 founder who wears a size-16 shoe. \u201cThat\u2019s something that I think is very healing for tall people.\u201d<\/p>\n The concept emerged almost accidentally. Bergantino, 32, a former software salesman turned TikTok creator<\/a>, posted a casual invitation on social media while traveling through Texas. He wanted content. Instead, he sparked a movement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt created itself,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t really take credit for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Each stop follows a similar format: Tall people gather, take photos, share recommendations for shoe shopping and swap stories about hitting their heads on door frames and cramming into airplanes. <\/p>\n For many women, the night\u2019s biggest draw is the speed dating component and the hope of meeting someone comfortable dating a taller woman \u2014 whether that means matching their height, exceeding it or simply being open to it. Many bonded over the shared challenge of navigating a dating culture that still favors petite women.<\/p>\n \u201cDating as a tall woman, you feel like you\u2019re intimidating to people,\u201d said 25-year-old Ksenia Protasenko, who’s 6 feet tall. \u201cThere\u2019s this association with you being a warrior type, but it\u2019s not true. It\u2019s tough to have your height as the first thing people notice about you because it feels like people are not really seeing any vulnerable parts of you.\u201d<\/p>\n Protasenko said men often ask whether she plays basketball. She usually has a reply ready.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell them, \u2018Yeah, sure,\u2019 even though I don\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I ask them if they play mini golf. That seems to straighten them right up.\u201d<\/p>\n The highlight comes when organizers crown the tallest man and woman in attendance. In Seattle, those titles went to a mother and son. Susan Mullendore, 44 and 6-foot-5, stood beside her son Grayson, 19 and 7 feet tall, as the crowd erupted.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a mom, just seeing Grayson having this experience meant the world to me,\u201d Susan said. \u201cTo be able to be crowned with him was really special. It was nice to have our height celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n For Grayson, a college freshman, the evening offered something rare: a feeling of normalcy. When in public, he said, strangers make comments and photograph him without asking. \u201cPeople think that because we\u2019re tall they can say whatever they want or do whatever they want, like we\u2019re zoo animals almost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At Tall Tour, the dynamic flipped.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was insane to feel small for once,\u201d he said, noting the event’s 7-foot-3 and 7-foot-4 co-hosts known as the Tall Boys. \u201cIt was so surreal to be able to have a conversation and look people in the eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n That commonality runs deeper than shoe size. Attendees describe a lifetime of social hyper vigilance \u2014 raising their voices a few pitches to sound less intimidating, slowing down around corners so they do not startle strangers, slouching to fit in.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re hyper-fixated on making sure that people don\u2019t see you as a threat,\u201d Bergantino said.<\/p>\n Tall people often feel isolated and out of place, particularly around puberty he said, noting he reached 6-foot-9 at age 16. But at Tall Tour, people can finally feel what it\u2019s like to fit in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt heals a portion of your inner child,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s walls come down, and it\u2019s like we\u2019re all one family.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan knows the feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you just want to go through the airport and be left alone. And that doesn\u2019t happen for us. We usually get a lot of whispers,\u201d she said. \u201cWe get it. It\u2019s shocking to see tall people. But sometimes it does get old.\u201d<\/p>\n The challenges extend beyond social awkwardness. Finding clothes and shoes that fit can be a mission. Susan, who wears a size-14 shoe, orders clothes from a specialty brand in the United Kingdom. To fit in his dorm bed, Grayson added a mattress extender and three sheets of plywood for support. He still hangs off the edge.<\/p>\n Bergantino quit his sales job two years ago and now runs Tall Tour full time with a small team that includes his brother, who handles video and social media, a chief executive officer and a chief operating officer.<\/p>\n Even celebrities have taken notice. Seven-foot-6 basketball player Mamadou Ndiaye attended the Los Angeles event and the team has been in contact with 7-foot-1 NBA legend Shaquille O\u2019Neal.<\/p>\n Future plans include expanding speed dating, launching a fashion show featuring height-inclusive brands and models, and adding spinoffs such as Tall Tour at Sea. International stops in Canada, Dubai, London, Australia, the Netherlands and Japan are also on the wish list. Bergantino says he wants to build \u201cthe tall-person ecosystem\u201d \u2014 advocacy for exit row seating, better clothing options and even a phone app.<\/p>\n For now, the reward comes in smaller moments, like watching women in heels celebrate the height that once caused shame.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most joy of the day comes from the Tall Queen when she gets her crown and everyone\u2019s going crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gets me every time.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Tall Tour<\/a> will run through May with two more stops in Houston and Dallas, Texas. Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n