Flash mob spotted on Peoria Riverfront

This evening in Downtown Peoria my girls and I were taking a walk. Over near the Riverfront Village Platform, I noticed that the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce appeared to be setting up for an event, so we wandered over.

They were setting up food and signs that indicated that they were celebrating 100 years at the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce (or something). They had food by Chamber member restaurants, music, dancing, beverages all FREE. My girls loved it.

While the kids were munching on free stuff, all of a sudden the song Celebration by Kool and the Gang starts to play. The next thing I knew, there they were - the flashmob. It consisted of Chamber members, THE MAYOR and City Council members. Check the photos:

Sorry to disappoint - no black kids were involved.

Has the flashmob phenomenon hit Peoria?

Sitting at Granny's listening to her scanner, I often hear about large crowds gathering all of sudden and fights breaking out. I sometimes think that these large crowds may be flashmobs. What is a flashmob? From Wikipedia:

A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via social media or viral emails, rather than those organized by public relations firms or for a publicity stunt.

Organizing a "flash mob" basically involves e-mailing a bunch of people with instructions to show up at a certain place for a few moments, then disappear. Flashmobs are mainly used by guerrilla marketers.

If you think about it, the ability to organize flashmobs would also be effective for gang activity. Could this be what is happening in our fair City - flashmobs with "thug pants" instead of gold lame Hammer pants?