Spiderman and daughter take positivity to the streets
“I bought a costume and put it on under my regular clothes. I wanted to do a secret reveal for my daughter, who was 5 at the time. The idea was to trick her into believing that I’m the actual Spiderman. We were at Discovery Green in Houston. When I took off my clothes and she saw my costume, of course she questioned the validity of what I was telling her. A bunch of other kids at the park came over, and they thought I was Spiderman. I put on my mask, and I showed my daughter that I had bought a costume for her, too. We had fun taking pictures.
“Then I started wearing my suit to the gym. I was jumping on top of equipment. I was doing backflips. Wellness and fitness are important to me, so I was just showcasing what I can do. The whole idea of someone wearing a mask, it can scare people. I mean, just because of all the crazy things happening around us these days. But once people saw what I was all about, just having fun and creating this positive energy, it started to be this really cool experience.
“Because I wanted to be accessible to more people, I took to the streets wearing my Spidey outfit. And I decided that it might be nice to write a positive message on a poster board, like Love Your Parents, Love and Respect, Together We Win — anything promoting unity and positivity. People honked their horns. They took videos and began posting them online.
“Then I started going to birthday parties and events for kids. In addition to entertaining them, I want to inspire them, too. So at the end of every appearance, I make sure to talk with them about important things in their life. It could be school, bullying, friends. I get testimonials from parents about the positive influence I’ve had on their kids. They write and tell me how much just a sighting of Spiderman changed the course of that day for their child.
“It really surprised me at first, the type of impact I was having on others. But Spiderman is a huge character, almost like Santa Claus. So a Santa Claus-type sighting twice or three times a week, that’s a pretty cool thing. The overall goal is to share positivity with others. It makes me feel good when other people feel good.”
— Kelvin Gray
Learn more about Kelvin and his Spiderman persona.
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