Grand Rapids makes awesome video to prove it’s not a “dying city”

In January, dying magazine Newsweek declared Grand Rapids, Michigan to be a “dying city.” Grand Rapids decided to rebut this vile slander by, uh, doing… this:

I love the guy with the Geraldo t-shirt around the 4:30 mark.

Here’s how the project’s Director & Executive Producer, Rob Bliss, explains it:

The Grand Rapids LipDub Video was filmed May 22nd, with 5,000 people, and involved a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take offs. It is the largest and longest LipDub video, to date.

This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a “dying city.” We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. We felt Don McLean’s “American Pie,” a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope.

I’m not entirely convinced Newsweek is wrong. But regardless, that’s pretty awesome.

(Hat tip: Gawker.)