Open invite on TikTok goes viral, birthday party may turn into city-wide celebration

CHICAGO (WGN) — This story is about a brother and sister and a birthday party bigger than anyone expected.

It started with a TikTok video.

Just a 30-second clip from a woman named Lucy Amaro in Chicago. It showed her brother Beto dancing. Beto loves nothing more than a party. Lucy tagged it #BetosBirthdayBash and made the invite open.

The post received thousands of likes and shares.

Now, she’s facing the very real possibility of hundreds, maybe thousands of people showing up at the city’s Harrison Park on Saturday for Beto’s birthday party. 

“Thousands of people saved this event. It was like ‘Are you coming to this party?’ I have no food. I don’t have anything for this party!!” she said.

But her brother didn’t blink.

“That’s good with me,” he said.

But then a few things happened: A band called offering to play for free. A bakery offered to make 300 cupcakes. 

“I have people reaching out, [saying] ‘I have beverages.’ ‘I have cupcakes.’ What else do you need?’ It’s been really wonderful,” Lucy said.

She still doesn’t know how many will come. Maybe 200. Maybe 2,000. But she knows this: there will be cupcakes. There will be music. There will be joy.

And above all, there will be love — a whole city’s worth — for a man named Beto, who never doubted for a second that people would show up for him.