BY RON EVANS
You may have noticed (hard to escape it, really) an insanely popular meme making its rounds this holiday season. One featuring a rather big-bootied Grinch standing in the middle of the Leavenworth Lights event. The first one I stumbled across had the tagline “The Grinch has no business coming through with all this cake.”
Made me laugh.
Then I saw a few more. And eventually I discovered that I knew the human who was under all that Grinch cake! Wenatchee’s own Katie Renggli — she was hired by the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce to don the now-infamous costume and walk around town during the festival. I had to reach out to Renggli and see what was behind (sorry) this meme and to find out what it’s like to see yourself going viral.
When and where were you at the time this Grinch photo was taken?
It was December 4th in Leavenworth right outside of the Loft on Front St.
What’s the story with the big- bootied Grinch costume?
The costume belongs to the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce and the reason why the booty is so big is unknown. They’ve had the costume for a few years and it looks extra large on me because it’s about 5 sizes too big for me. I had to pin the elastic as tight as it could go and Jerry Rig some suspenders just to keep the bottom on. The pants portion is very heavy, especially when wet from the snow.
Do you know who took this photo seen ‘round the world?
I don’t know the guy who took it actually. He was a tourist there to see the lights.
Edit: The Comet traced the original post back to a Facebook profile by Danno Hanfling who claimed he took the photo.
When did you first realize this image of you had gone viral?
I had a friend of mine say people on her feed from Pennsylvania had reposted it. Then I decided to check Twitter and saw how many likes and shares it had. (Being picked up by) Tosh.0 got me though. That made me realize how viral it was.
What are some of your favorite versions of the meme?
My favorite one is “there ain’t no way the Grinch is sneaking up on Whoville with those things clapping” and “The Grinch who stole Thiccness” is classic. Also check out this photo Dan Meece took with his go pro! I call it the ass heard ‘round the world.
The ass heard ‘round the world. Photo by Dan Meece
Unfortunately, we can’t just have fun (thicc) things without assholes showing up. Sounds like there was an alarming amount of groping and harassment following you around in Christmastown.
“So much so that they hired my boyfriend Domingo to be my bodyguard. People would come up and grab my butt. I had people push and shove and try to pick fights with me. And I had a kid shoot me in the face with a wooden gun.”
Ugh. It’s a mean world, Mr. Grinch.
