So much for culture trumping consumerism. At a shopping mall outside Sacramento, California, thousands of singers descended on the Westfield Galleria in Roseville to perform a rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” But before a single note could be sung, firefighters ordered the mall to be evacuated because the “flash mob” gathered on the second-floor threatened the structural stability of the building.

 

“Somebody reported hearing two pops that sounded like the floor was giving way and another said the floor was shifting,” Tom Dodaro, a Roseville Fire Department spokesman, told the Sacramento Bee.

 

The event was organized by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra and involved several area congregations.

 

After building inspectors examined the floors and walls, the mall reopened the following morning…but without the random act of culture.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Westfield Galleria Open for Shopping Day after Evacuation (by Ed Fletcher and Matt Kawahara, Sacramento Bee)

Galleria Evacuation Forced by Huge Crowd (by Mary Nares, Sacramento Press)