WATCH VIDEO: Coastland mall crowd surprised by impromptu Christmas carol from Seacrest students

Flash mob at Coastland Center

Raw clip of students singing in food ...

Flash mob at Coastland Center part 2

Second clip of surprise singing at mall

NAPLES — The shoppers at the Coastland mall were treated to an impromptu Christmas serenade from a flash mob on Sunday afternoon.

The sounds of Handel’s "Hallelujah Chorus" filled the food court at 4 p.m. courtesy of the Seacrest Country Day School choir.

Seacrest choir director Jodie DeSalvo came up with the idea for the stunt after seeing a similar flash mob singing at a Philadelphia-area mall on a YouTube video.

“The video inspired me to do something here,” DeSalvo said. “The kids were a little nervous at first and worried about getting in trouble. I told them if we get in trouble, I will be the one who will be getting arrested.”

About 45 high school students from Seacrest and several members of the Unity Church of Naples walked into the mall without any announcement or invitation to spread the message of Christmas. No one was arrested.

Seacrest junior Rikki Townsend said it was interesting to see the reaction of the people, who were texting, eating and oblivious to what was about to happen, when the group started singing from different locations of the food court.

“Singing bonds the kids together,” said DeSalvo. “And when you break out into song in the middle of a mall, it brings people together. People get busy, shopping and getting errands accomplished, and they sometimes forget about the true meaning of the season. Hopefully we reminded them of it.”

The crowd cheered in appreciation.

“The applause at the end were amazing,” Townsend said. “It makes all of the hard work worthwhile. I want to do it again.”