Subscribe to the 100% free rdnewsNOW daily newsletter!
The pumpkin trail in 2021, which didn't quite make World Record standards. (Town of Sylvan Lake)
orange you glad you heard about this?

Sylvan Lake wants your pumpkin for world record attempt next week

Oct 28, 2022 | 4:16 PM

Sylvan Lake, and anyone who wants to help, will try to break a very Halloween-ish Guinness World Record over the coming days.

Following Halloween on Oct. 31, the Town is asking residents from near and far to contribute to the — hopefully — world’s longest pumpkin trail.

The record to be broken is 1,464 metres, achieved in 2016 in Blaine, Minnesota. Sylvan Lake estimates that would take about 6,000 pumpkins — carved or not carved.

In 2020, when Sylvan first started gathering gourds, they got to 661, and in 2021, the line-up was 1,706 jack-o-lanterns long, but not even close to the 1,464-metre record.

The record being attempted is allowed to and obviously will include many carved pumpkins, which has a record all to itself at 4,164 pumpkins (Ashburton, UK).

Natasha Bhola, Sylvan Lake’s Tourism Marketing & Development Coordinator, says the endeavour is green (and orange) and helps raise community spirit.

“At the end of it, after the official pumpkin count, people come down and pick them up for agricultural purposes, such as for livestock feed,” says Bhola.

“There’s been a lot of community spirit around this, with people going to the park and taking part in this initiative.”

To partake in this pumpkin party, bring your pumpkin to Lions Park in Sylvan Lake and add to the squash trail from Nov. 1-7. Those pulling up with their pumpkin(s) are asked to line them up along the pathways.

The official count happens Nov. 8.