From the air, Lake Waukomis last week looked like it was filled with Froot Loops cereal, and residents hope that this colorful display will earn the small Platte County community a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
About 400 inflatable tubes linked up on Sunday, July 1 on Lake Waukomis in the city’s official attempt to achieve the Guinness World Record for the longest line of water inflatables. In 2017, the record was set in Ontario, Canada with 543 feet, 7 inches worth of linked floating tubes. Earlier this year, an attempt in Milan, Italy linked up 705 feet, 8.5 inches of floaters.
An estimated length of linked tube-goers is not yet available, but event organizer Louisa Libby estimated more than 400 floats were in the water that day.
“It was an amazing day,” Libby said. “Lake Waukomis is a community that comes together for family fun and the Guinness attempt didn’t disappoint. Though it was a bit windy we hope that we held on long enough to be a world record holder.”
The cost to have an official Guinness World Records adjudicator onsite for the attempt was outside the lake’s Independence Day planning committee budget, so Libby took on the responsibility of communicating the strict requirements as well as the paperwork and drone video footage to submit as evidence.
Lake Waukomis, a town of nearly 900, attempted to break a Guinness Book of World Records on July 1 for the longest line of water inflatables, which may have been set at 705 feet, 8 1/2 inches earlier this year in Italy. More than 400 colorful inflatables convened on the lake in Platte County.
“It sounded like a really fun thing to do,” Libby said prior to the event. “It’s something a lot of people can participate in and would be fantastic if we were successful.”
The record attempt was part of Lake Waukomis’ six-day Independence Day celebrations, which also included decorating contests, parades, picnics, fireworks and more. Lake Waukomis is a 90-acre lake generally bounded by Interstate 29 to the west, Green Hills Road to the east, 72nd Street to the south and 79th Street to the north. It has a population of nearly 900.
Libby also wanted to thank the event sponsors, Smithville Marine, Community 1st National Bank and Lake Waukomis resident Jim DeArmand.