Organizing committee
Standing behind the signs are the Guinness Book of World Records Committee for the ‘Threshing Machines….Trash Cancer’ happening in St. Albert on the weekend of Aug. 10-11. The committee members are, from left, Roger Lafrance, Nicole Latour, Lyse Gingras, Michel Courville, vice president of St-Albert Cheese Co-op (board of directors), Marie-Claire Ivanski, Friends for Life – breast cancer, François Latour, Juliette Forgues, Maurice Jeaurond, Denis Lauzon and Robert Latour. Moore photo
ST. ALBERT—The Guinness Book of World Records’ Committee 2019 and organizers of ‘Threshing Machines….Trash Cancer’ hosted a press conference in St. Albert on Thurs., June 20. The group is on a quest to set two new Guinness Book of World Records. The first record is to reclaim the record for the greatest number of threshing machines operating at the same time and the second is to make the largest pink ribbon for breast cancer.
Organizer, Francois Latour said he is excited about this year’s attempt, saying he hopes to have 250 plus threshing machines which would totally obliterate the current record set in Manitoba. Latour has 18 threshers stored in his barn and he said there were 20 outside. Latour and his organization originally held the record prior to Manitoba’s feat in 2016. The 250 machines will have to operate continuously for 15 minutes at the same time but if 10 per cent of the threshers fail to work, the record will be voided. Latour commented, “I was really surprised by the response in 2015, I have been in contact with a lot of people in the last two years and I am pretty sure that we can take back that world record.”
The attempt for the threshing record will be at 1 p.m. and following that at 3 p.m., the world’s largest breast cancer awareness ribbon record will try to recruit some of the people attending or competing in the threshing attempt. Latour expects between 20,000 and 30,000 people to attend this event, so the numbers are there for the largest ribbon.
The current record is 8,264 people. According to organizers, Juliette Forges and Marie Claire Ivanski, there will be a chalk line drawn on the field where the participants can line up forming the shape of a ribbon. There is a certain distance people have to stand at and are spaced accordingly. There will be an official from the Guinness Book of World Records from New York at the event, to make sure everything is fair. There will also be a big draw with a car, a four-wheeler and a trip to be raffled off. The tickets are $20 each and are available from anyone from the committee. People are asked to wear pink but the group says they will have pink outfits to give participants if necessary.
Latour mentioned that there will be signage like the one in the picture posted on the highway 417, 174 and all throughout the area. Late last year, Latour had a thresher painted pink as a promotion for this event and teamed up with Ivanski, fundraiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
Latour will be touring with the pink thresher to local events like fairs and festivals to seek as much interest as possible. There will also be a competition running up to the event as local residents are asked to decorate their lawns with pink, and there will be $1,000 in prizes to be won; $300, 250, 200,150 and 100. The contact for the decorations is Louise Cayer Deslauriers at 613-443-0310.
On Sat., Aug. 11, there will also be other activities including the Clarence Rockland Plowmen’s Association’s plowing competition, an antique tractor pull, dancing tractors and antique demonstrations.
There will also be children activities set-up all weekend. The event will take place in the fields just south of the St. Albert Cheese Coop at 150 St. Paul St. The organizers are still looking for volunteers, if anyone is interest call Latour at 613-720-1845.
