Northwest Bird Gang
For the 177th week of "7 QUESTION SUNDAY" we shine the spotlight on another influential individual from the PNW. Anthony Gabbamonte is the founder of the Northwest Bird Gang, a group of Philadelphia Eagles fans that meet up for game days.
4EVRGRN: Hey, AG! Tell us a little about yourselves.
AG: Hey, what’s up, I’m Anthony. I started the Northwest Bird Gang for Eagles fans in the PNW to meet up and watch games together in 2015. We’ve grown a lot since then! We do a free halftime raffle every game day and paid charity raffles throughout the season. We have people from all over the PNW that come join us on game day and a lot of Philadelphia transplants as well as people in town from the military.
1) How did the Northwest Bird Gang start?
AG: I went another fan at Winco and we wanted to watch the game together so I made a Facebook group in 2015. We started with 5 or 6 people and met up at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a game together. Now, we have over 800 people in the Facebook group and our smallest meet ups are 30 people!
2) Where do you meet up?
AG: Our nest is at Zesty Steakhouse in Lakewood, WA! They’ve been really good to us, it’s the old Black Angus building on Bridgeport Way. Great food, they do seafood boils and fire grill, everyone loves happy hour. Their staff has been a lot of fun and really embraced our group. Check them out and tell ‘em we sent you!
3) What makes being an Eagles fan different than any other fan base?
AG: We’re Phamily! There’s a bond amongst Eagles fans you don’t see in any other fan base. It’s a Philly thing that’s extended globally. We’re everywhere. We sing a fight song after the kick whenever there’s a touchdown and we sing at meet ups too. Other team’s fans really enjoy that!
4) Do you guys do other things besides Eagles games?
AG: Yea, we have a preseason BBQ every year. That’s always a lot of fun, we take over Thea’s Park in Tacoma and BBQ with a potluck style meal. We’ll get together and watch other Philly team games. People will post stuff in the group from kids parties to bowling whatever for people to come join them. We do special events for holiday games, Halloween is always a fun one.
5) Are your meet ups kid friendly?
AG: Everyone is welcome! Unfortunately, we couldn’t work anything out with the liquor control board for them to be in a sectioned of portion of the bar. We have a piece of the restaurant section that is available for families and kids. There’s a lot of kids that have grown up coming to meet ups every weekend, we love it!
6) What has been your biggest meet up?
AG: Our 2017 Super Bowl for sure, we had just over 80 people. People drive hours to join us and we appreciate it! Looks like we’ll be beating that record this year, we had probably 80 people for our playoff game against the Giants.
7) How can people join the group?
AG: Send us a request on Facebook. That is where everything happens, and we post our events. We are on social media so you can follow us there and find out where we’ll be and get a look at what meet ups are like.
Are you an Eagles fan in the PNW? Join the Northwest Bird Gang Facebook group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/974227315929841/?ref=share
Follow the action on:
www.instagram.com/northwestbirdgang
www.facebook.com/northwestbirdgang
www.twitter.com/NWBirdGang
