What began as a joke about Lollapalooza’s rain-soaked grounds became something Lindsay Perrin never expected.

The 38-year-old Indianapolis mother quickly created an Instagram invitation for a spontaneous event she called Scissor Slam 2K26, combining her love of live music, women’s sports and queer community. By the time Perrin reached the festival, the post had already attracted more than 100,000 views.

At 6:30 p.m., she stood near a white balloon in one of the muddiest areas of the festival and called out the event’s name. Perrin said the scene seemed to transform almost instantly: within roughly 30 seconds, a crowd of about 200 people had gathered around her.

Two volunteers, Eve and Sarah, stepped forward for the first match. Perrin improvised the rules, refereed the wrestling and livestreamed the action at the same time. What she had initially imagined might attract only a handful of people instead became a half-hour spectacle surrounded by cheering festivalgoers, photographers, reporters and staff.

But Perrin said the most meaningful part came afterward.

Strangers exchanged contact information, new friendships formed, and attendees continued connecting online after the festival. Perrin also received messages from participants describing how happy the unexpected gathering had made them.

One message that particularly moved her came from the mother of a wrestler, who expressed delight at seeing her daughter having such a memorable experience. For Perrin, who came out later in life and has since made community-building an important part of her life, reactions like that gave the muddy afternoon a deeper meaning.

The crowd included LGBTQ+ attendees as well as straight festivalgoers who either sought out the event or simply stumbled across it.

For about 30 minutes, Perrin said, people were laughing, cheering for strangers and enjoying the absurdity of the moment together.

A rain-soaked field had provided the setting. A last-minute social media post supplied the invitation. And hundreds of strangers turned a spontaneous joke into one of Perrin’s most unforgettable moments at Lollapalooza.