Largest Umbrella Dance: Galveston sets world record (Video)
GALVESTON, TX, USA -- Organizers of Galveston Island's 100th Mardi Gras celebration
just announced that 492 participants dance the Hokey Pokey at Mardi Gras! Galveston - setting the new world record for the Largest Umbrella Dance.
Photo: The World's Largest Umbrella Dance. (enlarge photo)
The previous Guinness world record for the largest umbrella dance was achieved by 322 participants at an event organised by Achariya World Class Educational Institutions (India) in Puducherry, India.
Guinness World Records also recognized the Largest Mambo dance record, set by 3,868 people who danced to Pérez Prado's Mambo No. 5 for five minutes at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain.
Each dancer in Friday's Funky Uptown Umbrella Brigade parade sported a decorated umbrella for the five-minute Hokey Pokey routine.
But the event wasn't just a Galveston celebration. Participation in the dance was open to the public and included groups from Houston, Austin, Dallas and other parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast.
"That's what it was all about," said Erin Dhonau, event coordinator for Mardi Gras! Galveston. "The dance was hilarious and fun, and even more important than earning the world record, was being able to see so many people come together and have a good time."
"We were really surprised by the response," said Erin Dhonau, event coordinator for Mardi Gras Galveston.
"We've had groups from all over the state join in on this. It's a way the public can get involved and actually be a part of Mardi Gras rather than watching from the sideline."
Mardi Gras, the traditional festival of feasting and merrymaking that precedes the season of Lent, has been publicly observed on Galveston Island as early as 1867.
Mardi Gras! Galveston now annually attracts as many as 250,000 revelers throughout the island, which provide a significant boost to the island's midwinter economy.
