SASKATOON – What do you get when you mix Saskatoon, sun, snowballs and over 6,000 people? A Guinness World Record attempt, of course.
People packed Victoria Park Sunday afternoon to steal the world record from Seattle, which previously held the title with 5,384 participants.
“The world’s biggest snowball fight should certainly belong in Saskatoon. A – because we live in snow six months of the year and B – because we are a community-oriented city, we help each other out. I mean look at this, this is evidence right here. We are going to smash that record,” Team Canada Yukigassen player David Thomson said.
People of all ages came out to participate, including 84-year-old Rose Bailey.
READ MORE: Saskatoon looks to break world snowball fight record
“Well it’s something new for me. I mean, we’ve been doing snowball fights all my life when I was a kid. But at my age it’s a challenge.”
People were taking snowball making very seriously, creating their own piles and showing them off proudly.
“I made a few today, snow conditions are a little tough. You’ve got to really try to pack them in there and get them nice and solid,” said Aaron Roberts.
Large snow forts were built in Victoria Park for the record attempt and organizers have been working for months to prepare for the day.
“We had to contact Guinness Book of World Records, we had to get an auditing company out to make sure it is legit. We had to set up all of these barricades. Came out bright and early to set them all up,” Thomson said.
In order to break the record, participants had to throw snowballs for at least one minute, which they successfully did.
Guinness World Records will need to review the attempt, along with auditors, to assure legitimacy. However, organizers announced prior to the start that registration numbers had surpassed 8,200 – unofficially smashing the old record.
WATCH BELOW: Raw video of the world record snowball fight attempt in Saskatoon