Such great heights: They're tall, they're proud — and they're getting together

SEATTLE (AP) — This story has legs. Very long ones.

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’t play basketball.

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 — 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.

“You’re walking around and there’s people your height and people taller than you when you thought you were just this giant freak,” said Tyler Bergantino, the tour’s 6-foot-9 founder who wears a size-16 shoe. “That’s something that I think is very healing for tall people.”

The concept emerged almost accidentally. Bergantino, 32, a former software salesman turned TikTok creator, posted a casual invitation on social media while traveling through Texas. He wanted content. Instead, he sparked a movement.

“It created itself,” he said. “I can’t really take credit for it.”

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.

For many women, the night’s biggest draw is the speed dating component and the hope of meeting someone comfortable dating a taller woman — 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.

“Dating as a tall woman, you feel like you’re intimidating to people,” said 25-year-old Ksenia Protasenko, who's 6 feet tall. “There’s this association with you being a warrior type, but it’s not true. It’s 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.”

Protasenko said men often ask whether she plays basketball. She usually has a reply ready.

“I tell them, ‘Yeah, sure,’ even though I don’t,” she said. “Then I ask them if they play mini golf. That seems to straighten them right up.”

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.

“As a mom, just seeing Grayson having this experience meant the world to me,” Susan said. “To be able to be crowned with him was really special. It was nice to have our height celebrated.”

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. “People think that because we’re tall they can say whatever they want or do whatever they want, like we’re zoo animals almost,” he said.

At Tall Tour, the dynamic flipped.

“It was insane to feel small for once,” he said, noting the event's 7-foot-3 and 7-foot-4 co-hosts known as the Tall Boys. “It was so surreal to be able to have a conversation and look people in the eyes.”

That commonality runs deeper than shoe size. Attendees describe a lifetime of social hyper vigilance — raising their voices a few pitches to sound less intimidating, slowing down around corners so they do not startle strangers, slouching to fit in.

“You’re hyper-fixated on making sure that people don’t see you as a threat,” Bergantino said.

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’s like to fit in.

“It heals a portion of your inner child,” he said. “Everyone’s walls come down, and it’s like we’re all one family.”

Susan knows the feeling.

“Sometimes you just want to go through the airport and be left alone. And that doesn’t happen for us. We usually get a lot of whispers,” she said. “We get it. It’s shocking to see tall people. But sometimes it does get old.”

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.

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.

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’Neal.

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 “the tall-person ecosystem” — advocacy for exit row seating, better clothing options and even a phone app.

For now, the reward comes in smaller moments, like watching women in heels celebrate the height that once caused shame.

“The most joy of the day comes from the Tall Queen when she gets her crown and everyone’s going crazy,” he said. “It gets me every time.”

Tall Tour will run through May with two more stops in Houston and Dallas, Texas. Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram.

Seven-foot tall Weston Borghesi, back left, celebrates after winning the Tall King award while attending the Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Attendees cheer during a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Carter Blab, left, and Weston Borghesi, stand back-to-back to see who is the tallest man attending a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Celina Vilcinskas raises her arms to celebrate being the tallest woman at 6 feet, 8 inches tall in attendance during a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Celina Vilcinskas, center left, who is 6 feet, 8 inches tall, waits in line to enter a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Sam Koban, who is 7 feet, 3 inches tall stands outside during a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Zoe Raabe ducks as she passes through a doorway during a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Alexandria Ruiz, left, standing at 5 feet, 6 inches tall, looks up to her boyfriend Sage Penner, who is 6 feet, 10 inches tall while attending a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Alex Schamonin, standing at 6 feet, 6 inches tall looks over the crowd during a Tall Tour event Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is falling from its records Friday and joining a worldwide drop for stocks, as higher oil prices send a shiver through the bond market. Stocks that had been caught up in the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology led the way lower.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 408 points, or 0.8%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 1.6% from its own record.

Technology stocks tumbled in a sharp turnaround from their meteoric rises for much of the year, which had carried markets worldwide to records but also raised criticism that they had gone too far.

Nvidia, the stock that quickly became the face of the AI revolution, dropped 3.6% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. It had come into the day with a gain of more than 26% for the year so far.

“To us, it looks like markets have pushed into overbought territory,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. He said the strong corporate profits and durable U.S. economy that launched U.S. stocks to records remain intact, but “the path is unlikely to be smooth. Periods like this call for discipline more than hope.”

In the meantime, rising oil prices are raising the pressure after already sending inflation higher than economists had feared. The war with Iran is continuing, and the Strait of Hormuz remains shut to oil tankers, which is preventing them from delivering crude to customers worldwide and driving up oil’s price.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 2.1% to $107.97 and is well above its level of roughly $70 from before the war.

Many big U.S. companies have been saying their customers have been able to keep spending on their products and services despite having to pay higher prices for gasoline. But U.S. households have also been telling surveys they’re feeling discouraged about the economy and the pressures building not only because of the war but also because of tariffs.

The worries were most clear Friday in the bond market, where Treasury yields climbed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.56% from 4.47% late Thursday. That’s a notable move for the bond market, and it’s well above its 3.97% level from before the war. The yield on the 30-year Treasury is close to its highest level since 2023 after breaking above 5%.

Higher yields can make mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses more expensive, which slows the economy. They also tend to push downward on prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments.

Yields have been climbing since the war on worries about higher inflation and how it may tie the Federal Reserve’s hands when it comes to short-term interest rates. Not only have traders abandoned virtually all expectations that the Fed will resume its cuts to interest rates this year, they’ve been building some bets that it may even hike rates in 2026, according to data from CME Group.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell sharply across Europe and Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 6.1% for one of the sharpest moves. It had been reaching records this year because of the influence of AI beneficiaries like SK Hynix. But it quickly reversed momentum Friday after briefly topping the 8.000 level for the first time.

Some on Wall Street have been warning about a possible break in momentum for tech stocks in general and AI winners in particular.

“If nothing else this should be a ‘shot across the bow’ for how volatility works both ways,” according to Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG.

AP Business Writer Chan Ho-him contributed.

Trader Patrick Casey works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

President Donald Trump, left, walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Temple of Heaven on Thursday May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A dealer stands near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Employees of Hana Bank celebrate in a photo-op to mark the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) of over 8,000 points at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)