Lindsey Sprague/The Falcon Strangers attack each other with pillows Saturday at Pike Place Market during a three-minute pillow fight.

Think back to a time when pillows were the common weapon of choice at preteen slumber parties and when the resulting casualties involved incapacitation from laughter. This pastime was the theme at Pike Place Market at exactly 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, March 30.

Police officers lined the market, as a roadblock prevented any vehicles from disturbing the event. Strangers piled onto the brick parkway with inconspicuous pillows shoved in shirts and large bags.

A whistle blew, pillows appeared from over 100 strangers on the street, and a massive pillow fight began. Feathers flew over the mob as people struck those around them with their pillows. Three minutes later, another whistle rang, and the fight stopped. The pillows were tucked away quickly, and the mob dissipated as though nothing occurred, the feathers on the ground the only indication of the three-minute pillow fight.

This event was a project of the "Seattle Pillow Fight Club," a web-based organization which schedules pillow fights around the city, and "Improv Everywhere Global," an acting group based in New York that creates missions which "cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places," according to their website at http://improveverywhere.com.