The weather sucked but we did it! At 7pm tonight, over a hundred people showed up in Montreal’s Dorchester Square and started bashing each other with pillows in the pure tradition of the Pillow Fight Club. Blork and I joined the first few timid fighters and we were immediately surrounded by a group of loud, happy fighters. Lots of people showed up with cameras and stuck around during what turned out to be a rather long and exhausting fight. Man! How tiring!
The fight calmed down for a few minutes and then a guy with a monkey mask showed up and someone yelled: « Let’s beat the monkey! » so the fight picked up again. The monkey protested: « Just because I’m different… ». His cries were drowned in the noise of laughter and the « poof poofs » of the pillows. I got hit on the back by a guy whose pillow was so heavy that I suspect he brought one of the sofa’s cushion instead. (No, I wasn’t hurt at all. No one went crazy on us.) Not a single police officer, not even a curious one, showed up in the square.
Sign of the times: most people had brought synthetic filled pillows. When the first feathers flew up in the air, the crowd let out a sentimental cheer. Aaaah, feathers!
Photos are starting to show up on Flickr. Check out the Montreal Pillow Fight, Pillow Fight Montreal and Pillow Fight Club tags. (Let me know if there are more tags.) There’s also a Flickr group you can join called Pillow Fight Club Montreal.
Things to do better next time (if there’s a next time):
-Set up a plan B in case of rain. (Move to a downtown tunnel?)
-Centralize information on a « secret » Web site.
-Start and stop with a clear signal (like a whistle or something like that)
-Consider joining the event with another gathering, like the Sunday tamtams on Mont-Royal.
-Less cameras, more pillows!!!
Alex offers his own account of the event and more suggestions on his blog.
Fran�ois has posted a fun video. Notice the screaming guy with the huge pillow: I’m the first person he attacks. Man!
Sorry I missed it! I ended up having to stay late at work today, and I got out just a bit before 7. Too late ! Makes me wonder if Friday night, rain or not, was the best time to do this. I wonder how many people thought they’d go, but changed their mind, not just because of the rain, but because once home on a Friday after a long week’s work, they didn’t want to go out again. (Not to mention all the people who, like a friend of mine who wanted to come, had a dinner invitation).
But I can’t complain, I didn’t even make it.
Looks like it was fun. :-)