"In the pantheon of parade float achievement, world-record titles are coveted. The longest parade float, a paper dragon in Gutian, China, spanned a half-mile in 2012. The heaviest, dubbed the "Gnarly Crankin' K9 Wave Maker," was an actual swimming pool on wheels that weighed in at nearly 150,000 pounds. Faced with some stiff competition, one savvy float-building team at this year's Rose Parade still managed to reel in a Guinness World Record title by setting its sights on something decidedly fishier."
"On New Year's Day, a towering 34-foot-tall mechanical seahorse - the centerpiece of the UPS Store float - came rolling down Colorado Boulevard, hooking the "Director Award" for design and the title for the tallest float before Guinness adjudicators also determined it to be the world's largest animatronic fish. "As the structure started to take shape, it became clear just how tall and ambitious it was," said Katie McCormick, a spokesperson for floatbuilders Artistic Entertainment Services."
A 34-foot mechanical seahorse float set a Guinness World Record as the world's largest animatronic fish and won the Rose Parade's Director Award for design. Hundreds of volunteers decorated the float with corn husks, seeds and flowers, while mechanical baby sea creatures performed a synchronized swimming routine. Despite rain on parade morning and the use of water-sensitive glues, the roughly 55-foot-long, 18-foot-wide float completed the Colorado Boulevard route intact. The seahorse was designed by Charles T. Meier and engineered by project manager Kyle Amerine. Representatives for the UPS Store reached out to Guinness World Records after realizing the float could qualify for a title. Other parade record examples include a half-mile paper dragon in Gutian, China, and a nearly 150,000-pound float that functioned as a swimming pool on wheels.
Read at Los Angeles Times
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]