University Marks 60th Anniversary with Record-Breaking Dinosaur Gathering

A university in Canada has cemented its place in the history books by marking its 60th anniversary with the world’s largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs.

To celebrate its milestone anniversary, the University of Calgary embarked on a record breaking quest to try and beat the existing Guinness World Record and on Saturday, April 11, they did it!

According to the GWR's website, 682 people in total were dressed as dinosaurs during a celebratory Community day, which vastly outnumbered the previous record held by the Cox Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"The record was 468. We broke it,” University of Calgary Vice-Provost Verity Turpin told the Canadian Broadcasting Company. “So we are record holders with 682 people dressed in dinosaur costumes.”

The unconventional celebration effort saw the university encouraged its students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and community members to don dinosaur costumes to participate in its Rex's Jurassic Jamboree.

The world record was one of the more creative ways the university celebrated its milestone birthday (University of Calgary)

Hundreds of individuals from all across the university and local community came out to support the record attempt, with many donning their most colourful dinosaur costumes to cement their place in the lighthearted celebration of the university's birthday. Meanwhile countless others were also present to cheer on the attempt, with several waiting with baited breath in the run up to the official count from the judges.

"People showed up in some fabulous onesies [and] blow-up dinos where you could not see any part of the person inside except for their feet," Turpin told the CBC.

University employee Laura Wan, who dressed up alongside her dog Ollie, was keen to share her reasons for embarking on the challenge as she told the Calgary Herald: “It's a chance to make history. It's awesome to be part of it. The other side of me is, I just want a really good chance to wear a crazy outfit.”

While Guinness adjudicators undertook the all important count, attendees were treated to music from local a cappella group the Heebee Jeebies and to "We Are the Champions" by Queen.

The final count dwarfed the existing record by more than 200( University of Calgary)

"As soon as we heard Guinness say, 'Six,' we knew we broke the record, and no one listened to anything after that. We were all screaming and hugging each other. It was awesome,” Turpin told the CBC.

“The old record is extinct,” UC's president and vice-chancellor Ed McCauley joked to the Calgary Herald. “This is just a great example of the University of Calgary and our Calgary community coming together to set a world record.”

The milestone will now be recorded with a special commemorative plaque, that McCauley admitted must be displayed somewhere ‘prominent’ in recognition of the precedent set by the Calgary community in making the record happen.