Despite the surprisingly frigid weather, Cornellians took to dancing in the street this Halloween weekend.

A group of 100 to 150 students staged a “flash mob” nicknamed “Occupy Halloween” at the intersection of College Avenue and Dryden Road on Saturday. Although this Halloween weekend featured a wide array of politically-inspired costumes based on the Occupy Wall Street movement, the organizers of the flash mob said they were simply trying to have fun.

At 11 p.m. on Saturday, dancers crowded the street to dance to LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem.”  The event was organized by Reed Steberger ’12, who dressed up as a member of LMFAO.

“[I] thought it would be worthwhile to put some energy into organizing some shuffling that had an apolitical goal to it,” said Steberger, a member of KyotoNow! and other political campus organizations. “The flash mob was nicknamed ‘Occupy Halloween,’ which is a really clever way of saying if the party is going to rock, you've got to occupy public spaces, even if it’s over in a flash.”

Steberger credited the flash mob’s success to a “spontaneous explosion of excitement.”

“If you come up with an idea that a lot of people already are interested in, it will take off,” he said.  “The really exciting thing about a flash mob is seeing how many other people have that feeling with you all at the same time.”

Harris Nord ’12, executive director of Cornell Concert Commission, participated in the event while wearing a dinosaur one-sie.

“It was supposed to be like the LMFAO ‘Party Rock Anthem’ video where people are dancing and shuffling in the street,” Nord said.

Nord said that, after LMFAO’s scheduled performance at Cornell was canceled last year, he wanted the C.C.C. to be aware of the flash mob. 

“This was a great opportunity to enjoy what LMFAO brings to the table without necessarily having that concert,” Nord said.

In order to organize such a large gathering in a public space, it was essential to “tap into what people are interested in — and people love this song,” Steberger said.

Police drove through and broke up the event, but there were no arrests, Nord said.

“They just kind of drove through, and then everyone dispersed and went about their night,” Nord said.

“It was definitely a good experience and no one got hurt and no one got arrested,” Nord said. “Everyone had a great time and that’s the biggest takeaway from it.”