Videos: Christmas 'flash mob' choir prompts mall evacuation; shoppers angry

MALL MADNESS: A "flash mob" Christmas choir event at a Sacramento-area shopping mall led to a massive evacuation when some customers reported that the floor was popping and might be giving way. According to the Sacramento Bee:

Two months after the Westfield Galleria in Roseville closed from a devastating fire, shoppers were again forced to evacuate Monday. This time, choral singers are to blame. The Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra and several area congregations had prearranged a "flash mob" singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus" in the mall's food court.

A church's flash mob Christmas event at a Redondo Beach mall went better. (Daily Breeze).

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--Shelby Grad

Comments

[Sue Anne Foster]

I was at the mall with the other reported 5000 folks.If the police/fire /mall spokespersons used good psychology they would have simply said....SING it and then go shopping....and all would have gotten their musical fix and merchants would have been happy with the added shoppers.. They ruined it for all concerned. Ineffective crowd control measures just confused people and it took far longer than just going ahead and singing the Messiah and moving on.
Structural issues of the building I suspect was a myth and fear used to reinforce control. Outside they had a helicopter circling where they told us to go.. flashing lights down like it was a riot. Interesting how many people were hungry for an experience of JOY and instead got this over-reaction complete with.. a heavy dose of the grinch who stole this experience from so many. Guess we'll have to go to you-tube to get our feel good moment of vicarious musical JOY. All those brilliant voices gathered there what a waste.

[dee gee]

i guess its a good way to keep people from spending what they don't have.....they'll thank the mall later when they get their credit card bill.

[steveg1776]

Sue Foster perfectly captured things in her post (I was there too). Everyone got quiet when the FD got on the intercom - they could have simply said, ok at the count of 10, sing your song, and then everyone please disperse. Five minutes later, it all would have been done, and everyone wouldn't have had to sit for an hour in the parking lot. The police chopper was the perfect cap to an abusive and overreactive response by fire and law enforcement: all that was missing was riot troops and tear gas... for a bunch of mostly older people there to do something fun to start Christmas week. Nice job, Roseville.

[dee gee]

ALL TOGETHER NOW...... the mall closed because they don't want to 'offend' anyone with Christmas music....fa la la la la la la la la......

[jtbwriter]

So you are a structural engineer or expert and KNOW the floor could hold all those people? And who are you to call the police and fire departments liars? Sounds like a bunch of egomaniacs who can't handle that the mall couldn't handle such a crush on a damaged mall! And as a shopper who has been harassed and squished into a door way by one of these choir mobs-go sing at church if you want to entertain the masses!

[justasinger]

the singers are not to blame nor is the Choral Society itself. This had to be planned, so approval had been given by the mall itself prior to the event. shouldn't a mall this size be able to handle the weight of this many people? it really should, don't you think?

[Azz]

I was one of the many people that were stuck in heavy traffic and turned away right outside the mall because of the incident. This was a reckless plan of gathering dangerous numbers of people in the mall. If you advertise a gathering like this that early on the web and planing it in a busy holiday shopping season, right in a shrunken spaced Galleria Mall, there is no surprise that there was the overcrowding that happened. The overcrowding is a big risk put on to everyone not only from the structure of the Mall, but also because of risks of trampling, injuring, or fights breaking out. Also was the sad traffic jamming in the entire Mall area.

These flash mobs need to be regulated as they can cause problems and risks, intended or not. I feel that discretion should not be left to just any flash mob planner.

[George]

None of us are structural engineers, neither is a fireman or a business owner at a mall (of course they might be, but unlikely).

If a floor can handle the same number of people MOVING across it, it can handle people standing on it.

Ever hear those statistics about how much abuse our feet take with each step? Something like 2-3 times our own body weight per step? double that if performing a sport? Where do you think all that pressure goes? INTO THE FLOOR!!!

Hence, walking produces more vertical forces on a floor than standing.

Thank you for listening

[kimberly hardie]

Thank you so much for using my video on your sight (Christmas Flash Mob Gone Bad)...Hearing the popping sound and feeling the jolt on the floor, I thought for sure we were going to tumble down to the lower level...Luckily, no one really panicked and everyone got out safely!

[snobrd2]

The official Christmas slogan has been changed from "Peace on Earth goodwill to men" to "Be afraid, be very afraid". Paranoia is killing this country!

[Joe]

Well now we know who the 99'ers are. They are the unemployed azzhats that form flash mobs because they are too pathetically useless to do something constructive with their time...like go to work and earn a paycheck.