More than 3,000 people dressed as dinosaurs stomped through Drumheller in hopes of breaking a Guinness World Record last month but their hopes were later ripped away as they learned their effort would not officially count due to a technicality.
Travel Drumheller hosted the “Jurassic Jamboree” event in hopes of earning the title for the largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs in Canada’s dino capital and a Guinness adjudicator was on hand to make it official.
“He recorded 3,000 people through numbered bracelets or wristbands, which far exceeded what we had originally thought,” Travel Drumheller’s marketing manager Keri Looijen said.
“Three-thousand was our high guess of how many people we would have, and from the video and photos it was probably close to double what we anticipated. We did hear that a lady had come up from Vegas; there were people from Nova Scotia.”
But the large turnout turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.
“We weren’t entirely prepared for that many people to come,” Looijen admitted. “Guinness said that there were people that they had witnessed leaving the area after they had been wrist-banded, so they weren’t following what the volunteers had told them by staying in the space. They had to be all together in the area for one solid minute.”
As a result, the Guinness rule-makers ruled, the event did not have an accurate count and wouldn’t be recorded in the august pages of the world’s preeminent authority of settling bar-room bets.
The size also surprised people who travelled to be a part of the event.
“When we approached the Welcome to Drumheller sign, there was already people dressed up in their costumes,” participant Jenna McLean said. “I didn’t know what to expect at all. But there were hundreds of these dinosaurs and it was really fun.”
“There was all kinds of costumes,” Looijen said. “We had inflatable costumes, there were soft onesie-style costumes that were full body, and some people even went as far as making their own costumes out of cardboard and other things.”
‘Some people are upset’
Travel Drumheller announced the disappointing news on social media and Looijen said there was a range of reaction from participants.
“Some people are upset — and we do really understand why they would be upset, because a lot of people did travel in for this,” she said. “A lot of really positive [reaction, too] because it was good, clean, fun.”
McLean said she was “a little disappointed” because a big reason for going was to set the record.
“But I was also thinking, well, if we didn’t reach the official count, maybe they’ll do the event again.”
Travel Drumheller is hoping to make the Jurassic Jamboree an annual event every April, but said it will be some time before it goes for the official record again.
“When we go for the Guinness World Record next time, it’s going to be a lot different,” Looijen said. “We’re going to have other processes in place to really help and we’re going to prepare for at least double [the turnout].”