Dance party for 1,000 dinosaurs follows Dundurn, Sask., challenge to world record
Previous Guinness World Record of 253 people dressed as dinosaurs likely broken, but verification will follow
More than 1,000 people in dinosaur costumes gathered in Dundurn, Sask., on Saturday in hopes of breaking a world record — and a dino dance party broke out as well.
The crowd dressed in floppy Tyrannosaurus rex outfits wanted to break the Guinness World Record for most people dressed as dinosaurs.
Gary Grady organized the event. He also owns Big Mur's Tavern in Dundurn, about 42 kilometres south of Saskatoon. Grady said they counted 1,163 dinosaur costume participants — meaning they blew the previous world record out of the water.
The Guinness World Record website lists a 2019 event in Los Angeles that had a mere 253 people dressed as dinosaurs as the previous official record. Grady hopes to soon claim dino-superiority once the numbers are verified.
"We will all submit our information to Guinness Book of World Records and then send everybody a certificate [saying] that they were in the challenge," Grady said on CBC's Saskatoon Morning.
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Grady said after watching inflatable dinosaur costume videos on social media, the idea took off within the community, which has a population of about 675 people according to Statistics Canada.
"I think November or February we got the idea," said Grady. "We thought, 'Let's try and do it,' and we threw it out under our social media stuff, and everyone got traction with it and it went to fruition."
"It was a family event and [they] really enjoyed it, and lots of children, lots of grandparents and dinosaur suits. It was super fun to watch," Grady said.
Everyone who showed up in dinosaur attire was entitled to a burger and a beverage, Grady said, and was also given a numbered registration and a tamper-proof wristband.
At 5 p.m. CST, they had a dance party co-ordinated by a friend of Grady's.
"We had a really great cheerleader, a friend of ours that was up on the stage and getting them all to dance to like Achy Breaky Heart and line dance and do the Macarena and the chicken dance," he said.
With files from Saskatoon Morning