More than 6,000 people have signed up to do something profoundly simple on Saturday: eat an apple together at Meridian Hill Park.

The event, called "Eat an Apple with Me," runs from 2 p.m. to 2:05 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at the park's sundial near 16th and W Streets NW. That's five minutes. Bring your own apple.

Co-organizer Jenny Mandl created the Partiful invite around her boyfriend Carl Endrulat's habit of photographing himself eating apples in different locations around the city. Endrulat was skeptical at first, Mandl told WUSA9 on Thursday, Aug. 13.

"I was like, 'Let's make an event for everyone to eat an apple with you.' And he was pretty skeptical at first. He's like, 'I don't know. Like, why would we do that?' And I was like, 'Let me cook,'" Mandl said.

The invite blew up.

As of Friday, Aug. 14, the Partiful page showed 3,359 people marked "Going," 2,317 "Interested" and 798 "Maybe." Mandl said the page got so much traffic she couldn't load it on her phone.

The rules are simple: Bring Your Own Apple is mandatory, punctuality is non-negotiable, and after-party instructions drop at 2:06 p.m. Mandl is encouraging attendees to bring an extra apple for a friend. She and Endrulat plan to eat Pink Lady apples. Online chatter among RSVPs has pitted Granny Smith fans against Honeycrisp loyalists, with near-universal agreement on one point: no Red Delicious.

Mandl told WUSA9 the whole idea taps into something real. People want to gather over something that requires nothing of them, she said, and five minutes of communal apple-eating is about as unserious as it gets.

The gathering spot sits on the upper terrace of the 11.88-acre park, formally known as Meridian Hill Park but called Malcolm X Park by most Washingtonians since the late 1960s. The park straddles Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, 1.5 miles north of the White House, and has served as a communal gathering place for decades. A Sunday drum circle that started the week Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 still draws crowds.

City Cast D.C. dubbed the apple event "D.C.'s hottest summer party," and The 51st included it in its weekend roundup.

What to know if you go:

  • What: Eat an Apple with Me
  • When: Saturday, Aug. 15, 2 to 2:05 p.m.
  • Where: Meridian Hill (Malcolm X) Park sundial, 16th and W Streets NW
  • Cost: Free
  • Bring: Your own apple (plus one to share)

The park's Sunday drum circle returns Aug. 17 at the same location.