Illustrated event poster for 'Garden Party for Imaginary Friends' featuring a fox with a speech bubble that says, 'The party’s invisible darling…'. The background includes bright abstract shapes and text describing the event as a curious experiment in community connection.

We Stapled a Mysterious Flyer to a Telephone Pole in Portland. Here's What Happened.

A neighborhood experiment in whimsy and connection

What if a random flyer on a telephone pole could bring a neighborhood together, spark curiosity, and create real moments of joy without the need for an app, a login, or even a real identity?

Since we first started sharing Liveframe with the world, one of our biggest challenges has been explaining its value outside of an in-person event. Liveframe began as a tool we built for our wedding, an easy way to connect with people from afar, during the pandemic. Friends from across the globe sent photos and messages in real time, and the experience stayed with us. Since then, we’ve been working to share that same feeling of connection with others, offering a social-media-free way for people to collaborate, reflect, and celebrate together, without the noise or distraction of an endless scroll.

This spring, as the days got a little longer and the world still felt a bit heavy, we wanted to create something playful. If you’ve ever visited Portland (or watched Portlandia), you know this city has a rich poster culture, telephone poles layered with flyers for events past and present. We thought: what if we joined in with a party that wasn’t quite real?

So we created The Garden Party for Imaginary Friends. We hopped on our bikes, posted flyers throughout the neighborhood, and included a QR code that opened a Liveframe event - no logins, no downloads, just a digital garden party open to anyone who wanted to join.

The idea was simple: what if a poster on a telephone pole could spark joy, curiosity, and connection between strangers without needing an app, a login, or even a real identity?

The result? A quiet, whimsical wave of participation from neighbors and strangers alike. People shared flower photos, anonymous messages, and affectionate shoutouts to the neighborhood cats and dogs. It was sweet, surprising, and filled with the quiet kind of delight we’d hoped for.

Close-up of a person with red nail polish holding a smartphone with a blank black screen. They are seated outdoors on a woven chair, wearing blue jeans and a black sweater.
Screenshot of the 'Garden Party for Imaginary Friends' app visitor page. The dark-themed webpage includes a welcome message, a sign-the-guestbook button, and a feed of user-submitted images and notes celebrating local participation.

This little experiment reminded us why we built Liveframe in the first place: to create spaces that feel open, warm, and human. And it’s made us even more excited to see how others will use it, for events, creative projects, or anything that brings people together in thoughtful, unexpected ways.

Ready to host your own experiment?

Set up your event in minutes. Guests scan a QR code, photos and messages appear live on screen. No app, no login, no friction.

Start Your Free Event →

Photos Shared during the event

Liveframe - Make your next event memorable