File photo/Rhonda Silence Some of the approximately 50 ATV ers from Cook County who took part in what is now the officialworld-record-breaking ATV parade in Silver Bay in June.
For months, participants in the June 13, 2009 attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest ATV parade have waited to learn if the event was successful. Was the parade that filled the field next to the AmericInn in Silver Bay and meandered through the town for 90 minutes long enough? Participants were delighted to hear a 1,632 preliminary count after the parade—but would Guinness World Records officials confirm it? Last week, ATV parade organizer Les Schermerhorn, of the ATV Association of MN learned that the record had been confirmed.
Schermerhorn found the news in an anti-climactic way—by visiting the Guinness World Records website to see what was taking so long to confirm the preliminary count. After she logged in with her password, she received a message stating, “Congratulations for the record—the Largest Parade of Quadbikes (ATVs) is 1,632. “
“Not too exciting,” said Schermerhorn, “but for me it was like winning the lottery!”
A few days later Schermerhorn received the official confirmation in the mail with a certificate from Guinness World Records LTD. She said she is not sure if the ATV parade world record will appear in the Guinness Book of World Records, alongside such events as the longest painting in the world (Vadodara, India, October 2009); the largest parade of Subaru cars (Itasca, Illinois, July 2009) or the most people to yo-yo simultaneously (435 yo-yo-ers).
“Guinness said that not all records make it into the book because they have so many to choose from. But we know that we did it—we made history!” said a jubilant Schermerhorn.
It took two tries to break the record—the Minnesota ATV Association attempted to obtain the record in June 2008. That attempt saw 1,086 ATVs gathered in Silver Bay—56 machines short of the record set by the Harlan County Ridgeriders of Evarts, Kentucky (1,138 ATVs) in 2006.
The record may be shortlived. Richfield City, Utah, host of an annual ATV Jamboree, claims that it broke the Minnesota record on September 16 with 2,014 ATVs. According to Utah’s Sevier County Event Coordinator, Kevin Arrington, the official total will be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for verification as the longest ATV parade in history.
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