Stevenson High School will not be adding a new world record to its list of achievements this fall, but a Spirit Fest with several added attractions still came off as a success, officials said.
“It was a little bit on the chilly side,” said Brett Erdmann, the school’s community services coordinator — who pointed out that the idea of taking part in the largest water-balloon toss on Earth, on such a cool Saturday night, may have been too tough for some.
Spirit Fest is Stevenson’s sixth annual back-to-school fundraising party. This year, 80 percent of the donation haul will go to the Hydrocephalus Foundation, and the remaining 20 percent to the school’s Kids in Need Fund. Erdmann said Monday that it was too early to estimate how much the event raised, but they did know that they had not broken the Guinness World Record for largest water-balloon toss.
The standing record, according to Guinness, is 902 people, at a school in Deerfield, Mass., on Sept. 14, 2014 —the day after last year’s Stevenson Spirit Fest attempted to break the Guinness mark for a high-five chain. On Saturday night, though, an unseasonable cold held the watery record attempt to 782, Erdmann said.
“We’re not going to submit, because we fell short,” he said. “We still had a good time with it.”
That good time included Spirit Fest’s big fireworks finale. Erdmann said the organizers spent a little extra for a longer show, which included a larger grade of explosives, which student activities director Ted Goergen was crucial in putting together.
“Ted set up a better show,” Erdmann said. “A different class of fireworks. Definitely better than what we’ve had in years past.”
He said he was thankful that Spirit Fest was able to proceed this year, despite imperfect weather. Erdmann noted that a future fundraiser might face the threat of rain, which might force the cancellation of everything.
“It would be a total washout,” he said. “There’s no backup plan. If we had rain, we’d be out all those costs.”
@RonnieAtPioneer
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