Last week, we wrote about a flash mob in Hannaford Supermarket on Broadway Street in Bangor that went viral. The orchestrated event not only garnered nearly a half-million hits on YouTube since the video debuted in September, but has apparently struck a chord with Penobscot Bay readers, as well. In little less than a week, that story got 17,500 hits and about 180 shares on our own Facebook page.

So, here’s more to the story.

The man in the video with the headphones is Broadway actor-singer-teacher-arranger Roosevelt Andre Credit from New York City. The flash mob was organized by the folks at the First United Methodist Church in Bangor as part of the church's 'Spirit Weekend.‘ We spoke to the chief organizer, Joyce Mallery, a member of the church by phone this morning. Her husband, John Haskell, is the choir director of the church.

“Roosevelt is an old friend of my husband’s and mine and he was up in Bangor for a concert with our choir for the First United Methodist Church in September,” she said. “I just woke up one morning and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have a flash mob?’ It just seemed like a great time of year to do something with our choir. My husband said, ‘if you can get at least 15 people, I’ll do it.’ So, I went to the choir and everybody was all on board.”

In the beginning of the video, you can see Credit with headphones begin to sing. The first woman to join in happens to be his mother. The choir is scattered throughout the Hannaford’s, mostly standing in the checkout line.

She said, “When I talked to Roosevelt about which song to do, he chose, ‘This Little Light of Mine’ because it’s light, lifts the spirit and everyone knows it.”

The flash mob blurred the lines when ordinary shoppers began joining in and singing, as well.

”We had it all orchestrated that each person in the checkout line would sing one line of the song and get out of line,” she said. “After that, it was just a mishmash of people joining in with our choir.”

Mallery didn’t think to film the event, but, a student, Megan Lewis did. When the camera was shut off, Mallery said everyone in store broke out laughing and began to clap.

“A lot of people came up to us and said how much fun it was,” she said. “It was just a happy, little moment.”

Mallery didn’t expect the video to go viral, but soon it did. Within the first month that the video was released, it gained nearly 40,000 hits on YouTube.

“People would contact me and others in the group all around the country,” she said. “I’d have friends call me and say, ‘you know, my friend in California sent me this. It was such an odd thing.”

Mallery began to see how meaningful these few videotaped moments were for people.

“I think since there have been such painful moments in our country of late, people continue to go back to that video. I’ve had people say to me, ‘I just like to start my day with that video.’”

As for Credit, she said, “Roosevelt has been a singer for a long time, but as far as this video, we just crack up about it. Who would have thought?”

To watch the video again, go to: Bangor man starts a singing flash mob at Hannaford supermarket

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com