PORTLAND PIRATE FESTIVAL ATTEMPTS TO BREAK
GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ ON SEPTEMBER 20
Portland - You know you’ve been dying to wear your puffy shirt, tri-cornered hat and gold hoop earrings. Well, bring it on (along with the required eye patch and sword), because the Portland Pirate Festival will attempt to break the Guinness World Record™ for "The Largest Gathering of Pirates" on September 20th at the 2009 Portland Pirate Festival in Cathedral Park.
The current record for the most people dressed as pirates is 1,140, set at Heide-Park, a theme park in Germany, on June 2nd, 2007. If the Portland Pirate Festival draws more than 1,500 scurvy scallywags decked out in all their Pirate finery, it will be sure to capture the record for the most people dressed as pirates gathered in one location.
“YAR! We’ve had thousands more scurvy piratically dressed landlubbers at any given moment in previous Portland Pirate Festivals,” notes festival organizer Shuhe Hawkins, aka Luc the Lucky. “This should be as easy as finding a crew full of swaggering seadogs on the poopdeck.”
All ages will qualify, so bring children dressed as pirates too, with fake swords of course!n According to official Guinness guidelines, costumes must consist of the following:
- Pirate style Hat or head scarf
- An Eye Patch
- Sword
- Appropriate Trousers & Shirt/Waistcoat or Dress
Participants must:
- Be able to sign the official Log Book
- Agree to be photographed/video taped
- Be gathered for a full 15 minutes after counting
The Portland Pirate Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20 in Portland’s Cathedral Park, just under the St. Johns Bridge. Family activities include Let’s Pretend Pirate Adventure starring kids from the audience who get to dress up and perform alongside professional actors; a large hands-on art project for kids benefiting CHAP, free group fencing lessons from Academia Duellatoria fencing school; cannon and flintlock battles; jugglers; storytellers; two stages of music, including performances by Captain Bogg and Salty and the B.O.O.M. Pirates; a Grub and Grog food area featuring beers from Rogue Brewery; and lots more. Portland’s great public transportation system can get you there