How I Was Part of a Guinness World Record

You won’t find my name in next year’s book of records, but over the past week I helped break a Guinness World Record. Here’s how it happened.

On Tuesday, I visited Harry & David. The world headquarters for this popular gift company is within walking distance of my home. (I even worked a season with them a few years ago.) Wolferman’s is a baking company that’s part of the Harry & David company.

April 10th is National Cinnamon Roll Day, a perfect day to attempt to bake the world’s largest cinnamon roll! After Wolferman’s/ Harry & David created a special oven that could cook a 1000+ cinnamon roll, they were ready to roll up the doughy, cinnamon-sugary goodness, heat it up, and offer tours. Harry & David normally offers factory tours, and the free cinnamon roll tour included parts of it. Unfortunately, photos weren’t allowed on this tour, but I couldn’t see the cinnamon roll anyway since it was still in the oven. That meant another trip to see the finished product this weekend.

Today was the main day of Pear Blossom Festival, a big event in Southern Oregon that also happens to be within walking distance from my home. A unique part of this year is the Wolferman’s booth selling slices of what Guinness World Records has declared the world’s largest cinnamon roll! The final weight was 1149.7 pounds, shattering the previous record by over 500 pounds! However, one of Guinness’ guidelines is to avoid food waste by making sure edible items are completely consumed. Pear Blossom was the perfect opportunity for lots of people to help out by eating pieces of the cinnamon roll. I got to help put the city of Medford, Oregon on the map with this world record, and the money raised from selling the pieces of cinnamon roll went to a local charity, so it helped the community in two ways!

Congratulations on a new cinnamon roll record. Although I don’t know how they plan to use the giant homemade oven in the future, a Harry & David tour is always fun whenever you pass through Medford. And if you’re here in April, stop for Pear Blossom!