World's Largest Marshmallow
Fight
On
December 2, 2011, 473 students and adults of Eisenhower Junior High School
(EJHS) in Taylorsville, Utah, set a new world record for the World's Largest
Marshmallow Fight, by throwing or tossing 2,000 pounds of 140,280 regular-sized
marshmallows at each other for nearly fifteen minutes. The participants
were separated by a "no-man's-land" of twenty feet on the school's
field (after school was officially over for students on that day). This
new world record has been accepted by The
Book of Alternative Records (BAR) in Germany, Record
Setter of New York and World
Records Academy of Florida. The previous record for this kind of event
was set on July 5, 2011, when hundreds of people reportedly threw over
600 pounds of marshmallows at each other at the annual Ocean Beach Marshmallow
Fight in Ocean Beach, California. (Prior to 2011, an online claim of 130,000
marshmallows were reportedly thrown by 2,500 people in Illinois--but this
claim has never been verified.)
The
Book of Alternative Records (BAR) lists two rules for this world
record: 1) This event is to take place between people who are separated
by a desired distance and who throw or toss soft marshmallows at each
other over a certain period of time; and 2) This record is based on the
known number of people who participate in the event, the known or calculated
number of marshmallows used in the event, and the known or calculated
weight of all the marshmallows thrown or tossed in the event.
In addition, to maintain uniformity and
maximize safety during this event, World Records for Schools (WRS)
suggested the following six rules for this record: 1) This record attempt
is to take place between two groups of people who are separated by a "no-man's-land"
of at least twenty feet; 2) only regularly-sized commercially-made marshmallows
are to be used (which marshmallows are about one-inch tall and one-inch
wide); 3) the marshmallows must be fresh and soft and not altered by cooking
or hardened by freezing; 4) the marshmallows are to be thrown or tossed
between the two groups of people over a certain period of time; 5) the
number of participants must be counted and known; and 6) the record is
based on the known or calculated number of marshmallows thrown or tossed
between the two groups of people and the known or calculated total weight
of all marshmallows used in the event.
All of the above rules of The
Book of Alternative Records (BAR) and World Records for Schools
(WRS) were followed by students and adults at Eisenhower Junior High
School (EJHS) during this world record attempt.
To set this new world record, Eisenhower
Junior High School (EJHS) used regular-sized marshmallows which were provided
to the school at a substantial discount by Western Family and Associated
Foods of Utah and from Fresh Market of Taylorsville, Utah (located at
4700 South Redwood Road in Taylorsville, Utah). All participants donated
$2.00 each to be in the event, which money was used to purchase marshmallows
and donated to charities.
(Note: Online
information sources state that marshmallows are confection-type candy
that typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin--that has
been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavorings, and sometimes
coloring, which are then whipped to a spongy consistency. Some marshmallow
recipes call for egg whites. Today, marshmallows are sweetened with sucrose.
They are currently prepared by aeration using mixtures of sucrose and
proteins to a specific density. The viscosity of the mixture, owing to
the proteins, gelatin or egg albumin, prevents collapse of the air-filled
cells. The use of marshmallows as candy dates back to ancient Egypt, where
the recipe called for extracting sap from the marshmallow plant and mixing
it with nuts and honey. The modern marshmallow confection was developed
over the last century.)
Media Links
to the World's Largest Marshmallow Fight:
Eisenhower
Jr. High School World Record Marshmallow Fight - via YouTube (submitted
by a faculty member of Eisenhower Junior High School from student and
faculty non-copyrighted videos of the event)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IytwSnU4Hzk&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
World's
Largest Marshmallow Fight - via YouTube (submitted from a Salt
Lake Tribune newspaper video photographer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xwigHN9FgI
Eisenhower
Jr. High Students Aim For World Record With Marshmallow Fight - via
Salt Lake Tribune newspaper (news story, photos and video)
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53040092-78/marshmallow-eisenhower-record-students.html.csp
World
Record Marshmallow Fight - via Fox News Television (Ch.13) news story
http://www.fox13now.com/videobeta/?watchId=17987ad2-4649-4792-9faf-69b422625518
Taylorsville
Students Set World Record With Marshmallow Fight - via KTVX-ABC4 News
Television (Ch.4) news story
http://www.abc4.com/content/news/state/story/Taylorsville-students-set-world-record-with-marshm/U4mS95Rhok6q0j0nZz14Kw.cspx
Taylorsville
Teens Break World Record in Marshmallow Fight - via KUTV News Television
(Ch.2) news story
http://connect2utah.com/news-story?nxd_id=185907
Marshmallows
Go Flying During World Record Attempt - via KLS News Television (Ch.5)
news story
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=18332550
Largest
Marshmallow Fight world record - via The Book of Alternative Records (Germany)
website
http://www.alternativerecords.co.uk/recorddetails.asp?recid=532&page=cat
Largest
Marshmallow Fight world record - via Record Setter (of New York)
website
http://recordsetter.com/world-record/marshmallow-fight/12296
Largest
Marshmallow Fight world record - via World Record Academy (of Florida)
website
http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/mass/largest_marshmallow_fight_Taylorsville_students_set_world_record_112617.html
Marshmallow
war breaks out at Eisenhower Junior High - via Granite School District
website
http://www.graniteschools.org/depart/superintendent/communications/pathways/Pages/Marshmallowwar.aspx
The above photos were taken
by Steve Griffin of the Salt
Lake Tribune newspaper, December 2-3, 2011
The above photo articles appeared in the Deseret
News and Salt
Lake Tribune newspapers
of December 3, 2011
Visit
The Book of Alternative Records (BAR) to see the world's Largest
Marshmallow Fight
Visit
Record Setter website to see the world's Largest Marshmallow Fight
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