Hugs for all comers
High fives also offered to spread joy
Big Dave’s mission this summer is to drive across America giving out free hugs and high fives.
“I’m just going around trying to make the world smile, man. That’s it, man,” he says after he and I slap hands.
From Dave Sylvester’s stop in Milwaukee Tuesday, I’d say it’s working. The Philadelphia dynamo approaches strangers with their blank workaday faces and offers a moment of random human connection. They brighten immediately, even if it’s just to wonder what the heck this guy is about.
“That’s what you do every day? That’s nice,” Stacey Stringer says between her hello high five and farewell hug from Dave. We found her eating lunch in the food court at the Shops of Grand Avenue.
He explains, like he does to everyone, that he’s driving to 48 states in 72 days to spread joy and positivity. Wisconsin is his 35th state. It’s on to Chicago next.
Sometimes he asks people to pose for a picture with him and his sign that says, “Hello, my name is Big Dave. #Big Dave Hugs America.” He tells them to pass on the hug or high five to someone else.
Big Dave is true to his nickname at 6-foot-3inches tall and 270 pounds. He has experienced just about every kind of hug out there — sweaty hugs, side hugs, pick you up in the air hugs, and awkward long hugs from women with their boyfriends watching, to name a few. Occasionally, someone declines his offer, he says. I didn’t see that happen Tuesday.
He high-fives the entire counter staff at Qdoba restaurant, gives them a quick pep talk about chasing your dreams, and hands out packets of body wipes and his calling card along with this offer: “If you ever get stuck in life, just call me.”
Dave is trying for 25,000 hugs and high fives this summer. He squeezes a clicker twice after high-fiving me and photographer Rick Wood. We were numbers 9,798 and 9,799.
David Hale Sylvester was born and raised in Philadelphia. The son of two teachers, he majored in statistics at Temple University. His line of work, when he’s not out embracing the masses, is personal trainer.
His mission rises from tragedy. A longtime friend and mentor, Kevin Bowser, was killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Dave decided to turn his grief into action by spreading kindness and starting a scholarship fund in his friend’s memory.
He pedaled a bicycle across North America, Africa, Asia and Australia to meet people close up. In 2012, he wrote a book about his experiences, “Traveling at the Speed of Life.” You can find him on Twitter and Instagram as The Human High 5.
On this current trip, Dave stops at bars, coffee shops, government buildings, street corners, really anywhere where people congregate. In Mississippi last month, he visited the site of a military plane crash and handed out water and hugs to first responders and reporters.
He has a sponsor helping pay his expenses, Minnesota-based Duke Cannon Supply Co., which sells men’s grooming products, including soap said to contain Old Milwaukee beer. Advantage Rent-A-Car is providing his vehicles.
Last week, someone suggested that Dave should head straight to Charlottesville, Va., to provide an antidote to hatred and bigotry.
“I was like, nah, any good I would do would be overshadowed by negative things and by the press. I’m sorry. I need to be out here doing what I’m doing to show people this is America, too. Hugging and high-fiving people and making people smile, that is America, too.”