As I had previously mentioned in my "Being Green" blog entry, Saturday June 5 was World Environment Day. Pittsburgh was selected as the North American host city for events surrounding World Environment Day, so there were all sorts of activities going-on around town.
Friday night we had thunderstorms in the area and Saturday they continued unabated. Lots of rain was falling. Events related to World Environment Day taking place in the David L Lawrence convention center might have been continuing on schedule, however anyone with outdoor plans would rightly have expected a washout.
I had heard of a special event planned for Saturday morning. There was a Guinness World Record for the largest raft of Canoes/Kayaks - the record was for 1,104 (joined by people holding their hands onto the various crafts) set in Inlet, NY. Pittsburghers decided to break the record. Over 2,300 had registered for the event - but that was before the storms rolled in. Would the record stand?
Well, it seems over 1,800 people actually showed-up, put their kayaks and canoes in the rivers (a bit earlier than planned due to the storms) and held-on for a minimum of 30 seconds to set a new world record. Then they quickly got out of the water and tried to stay dry as the skies opened-up! The local news channels liked this story too.
I love the quote of the day, captured on Twitter: "last time there were this many paddlers on these rivers, we spoke French" (a reference to the early 1700s when this area was first colonized by the French -- it was finally captured by the British after the French and Indian War in 1763).
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