Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Great Leif Garrett Riot of '78

In April 1978, Harmony Hut in Springfield Mall scheduled an appearance by the new pop superstar Leif Garrett.  16-year old Garrett arrived to find at least 1000 screaming girls mobbing the store to get a glimpse of their beloved star.  Garrett spent about three minutes in the store and the crowd surged forward screaming like sirens according to store workers.  Having lost complete control, the Harmony Hut employees moved Garrett out a back door and began to try to close the store.  The crazed girls pulled the sliding doors off their tracks and were rapidly transforming into a crazed mob.  Many girls were trampled and some went into hyperventilation.  In the end 15 girls had to go to the hospital and 50 or so given first aid at the scene.  Of course, a short time later Leif Garrett was forgotten, but his legacy in NOVA was a pack of crazed girls tearing apart the Harmony Hut at Springfield Mall. 

3 comments:

  1. I was there. The mall had really tall trees indoor and people were climbing the trees, screaming, passing out... the madness of it was scary. When the girls found out they were closing the store and we would not be seeing him, that's when they tore the mall up

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  2. Hi everyone, I'm writing a story about this Leif Garrett appearance for the Springfield Connection Newspaper, kind of a "blast from the past" story, can I ask you a few questions via email? I'm at msalmon@connectionnewspapers.com

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