HAMPTON — They unofficially broke the record two years ago for having the largest tow truck parade in the world.
Now, members of the New Hampshire Towing Association will officially attempt to break the record Sunday and go down in history as part of the Guinness Book of World Records.
"We are going to try again this year and hopefully we can to do it," said NHTA President Rene Fortin.
The association is in town this weekend for its 36th annual trade and tow show at the Hampton Beach State Park.
The two-day event, which is open to the public, features vendors, a rodeo competition, food raffles, and family-oriented activities, such as a judged obstacle course and tow truck beauty contest.
The parade, which is being billed as the "best and biggest wrecker parade in the world," takes place on Sunday at 9 a.m.
Fortin said parade entrants will begin at the State Park and follow Ocean Boulevard, High Street, Route 1 and take Winnacunnet Road back to the beach.
"We have trucks from all over New England participating," he said. "We have trucks from New York, Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia."
Fortin said the goal is to break the world record for largest tow truck parade, which is currently held by the Washington Tow Truck Association.
A total of 83 tow trucks participated in a parade through the streets of Wenatchee, Wash., on Aug. 20, 2004, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
"We need 84," Fortin said, who added that number shouldn't be hard to reach, considering in 2005 they had more than 200 trucks participating in the parade.
"We thought we broke the record in 2005," Fortin said. "We sent Guinness a video of 234 units in a parade, but it wasn't accepted."
Fortin said the Guinness Book of World Records has a long list of rules that have to be followed in order for a record to be accepted.
"It's rather intensive," Fortin said. "There is about eight pages of rules you need to follow."
But Fortin said they now know the rules and will try to fulfill the requirements of Guinness. Whether they break the record or not, Fortin said the two-day event is really a chance to showcase the men and women and the tow truck industry.
"Typically people don't like towers," Fortin said. "Nobody who has had an accident is pleased to see a wrecker show up. Nobody who gets pulled over for DWI or breaks down on the side of the road is happy when the tow truck drives up. This is a chance for us to show we are regular human beings and were really are not the bad guys in the world."
But Fortin added breaking the record would be a nice ending to a great weekend.
"It would be nice to be a part of history," Fortin said.
GO TO TOW SHOW
For a complete listing of the events and activities for the weekend, visit nhtowingassociation.org.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Tow Trucks go for World Record Tomorrow
Wish 'em luck! Here's the story from seacoastonline.com:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment