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Pushing pennies
As rain fell on the Fort Scott Middle School parking lot Tuesday night, the determination of area residents and the Youth Activity Team continued to rise as the community attempts to break an unusual world record.
About 14 weeks has passed since YAT, an organization formed through the Fort Scott Visioning process and in place to seek out and assist in the realization of activities desired by local youths, announced their plans to upgrade facilities at Ellis Park in Fort Scott by approximately $4 million.
The renovation is to include the addition of batting cages, a miniature golf course, sand volleyball and a walking trail among several other pieces of equipment.
Today, the first major step in realizing that plan is in its final stages.
For months the team has conducted a massive fundraiser, "Pennies for the Park," collecting pennies from individuals and businesses all over Bourbon County. The pennies were not only meant to begin funding the new park, but to offer Fort Scott an opportunity to get its name on the map. In an attempt to break a Guinness World Record, currently held by a group in Malaysia, YAT, along with hundreds of area residents, will try to lay over 40 miles worth of pennies (approximately 3.7 million) end-to-end across the middle school parking lot.
On Monday morning, a Fort Scott Community College semi pulled into the middle school parking lot carrying the over $34,000 (10 tons) worth of pennies successfully collected during the fundraiser. Penny laying efforts began Tuesday evening when 102 Fort Scott Community College football players arrived on site and kicked off the event by laying pennies for about two hours.
Wednesday marked the second day of penny laying and attitudes remained optimistic despite some minor weather-induced set backs to the large outdoor and unsheltered event.
"The rain, that wasn't a huge surprise, but it was probably a huge issue that it did happen. But, we try to keep a positive atmosphere the whole time," YAT Co-convener Diana Mitchell said on Wednesday.
"Tuesday night was phenomenal. If we would not have had the rain come in, we would have gotten a solid six hours of work in," said Fort Scott High School Athletic Director and YAT member Larry Fink. "Originally though, we had planned on starting Wednesday morning about 6 o'clock anyway, so we're really right on track of what we had originally planned."
With an estimated one-fourth of the total needed number of pennies on the ground and two more days before the Friday deadline, when Guinness' representative must give Fort Scott a pass or fail mark, Fink focused on what has already been achieved.
"We've already accomplished what we really wanted to accomplish," he said. "We got our seed money to start opening up some grant opportunities and we've brought a lot of people into focus for Ellis Park; and we've brought this thing to a point where people can really get behind something. That's what it's all about."
Guinness representative Karou Ishkawa arrived late Wednesday night from the Guinness headquarters in London, England, and is slated to adjudicate the world record attempt through Friday. If the group is able to accomplish this feat, Ishkawa will announce immediately that Fort Scott is the new record holder. If for any reason the attempt fails while she is on site, efforts will continue, however, there could be up to an eight-week delay in Guinness' recognition of Fort Scott as the new record holders.
YAT is continuing to look for individuals and teams interested in both laying and unwrapping pennies. Anyone interested can visit the Fort Scott Middle School for registration details.
Persons must be 16 years of age or older to lay pennies; nevertheless, there is no age limit for those wishing to unwrap them.