Mississippi State University may be about to host the event that sets the Guinness World Record for most people ringing cowbells simultaneously at a single venue.
Davis Wade Stadium on Thursday will host the annual Cowbell Yell before the MSU football team hosts Louisiana State University’s team Saturday. But this year, the Student Association, with help from the Department of Athletics and MSU alumni, have invited a judge from Guinness World Records to be on site and determine whether the event will be the largest assembly of cowbell-ringers in the universe’s history. Organizers are expecting 15,000 people to come, each with a cowbell.
The idea started about four years ago when wildlife photographer and MSU alumnus Steve Brandon read in the Guinness Book of World Records about the largest cowbell ensemble.
“The official record currently is 640 by a Swiss group,” Brandon said. “So … when I read it years ago, my first inclination was, ‘We need to do that at Mississippi State.'”
The group in Switzerland currently holds the record of largest cowbell ensemble, which is not the same record MSU hopes to achieve. Still, to be considered record holders, the Cowbell Yell has to beat 640, according to an email from Guinness World Records to The Dispatch.
Organizing an event of over 640 people and getting them in one place to ring cowbells together for the 30 seconds required by Guinness to set the record is no easy task.
The project was shelved until this summer when MSU Student Association president JoJo Dodd dug up Brandon’s name and contact information. Dodd asked Brandon if he would help organize and fundraise for the event. The Student Association and Brandon contacted Guinness, raised the necessary funds and coordinated hundreds of volunteers in a period of about six weeks.
“I need to give some kudos to JoJo,” Brandon said. “It is a mind-boggling undertaking, especially for a group of students. And JoJo has really stepped up, has shown exceptional organizational skills and I’m very proud of the job that JoJo and the Student Association has done … to put this together.”
It cost upwards of $10,000 for MSU to put together the event and get Guinness to judge it, Dodd said. Several sponsors, including both businesses and private individuals, were recruited by Brandon to help with finances.
At the event, 400 volunteers will be present to watch the cowbell ringers, said Dodd. One volunteer for every 50 people is necessary to watch and make sure all 50 people keep ringing all through the half-minute Guinness requires.
Dodd added that MSU could beat the record every home game, but that the logistics of getting a Guinness judge to monitor fans ringing cowbells at a football game would be more of a hassle than it’s worth.
Dodd invited the community, including fans living in Columbus, to attend the Cowbell Yell, but advised event-goers to arrive early. The line will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Cowbell Yell itself is at 9 p.m.
Brandon gave special credit to his wife, Patsy Fowlkes, without whose support he said the event would not happen.
“It’s kind of silly, the World Record,” Dodd said. “It’s something cool, but at the end of the day it’s just a neat thing and it’s going to add to the excitement for the weekend … we have a fun time. That’s all it’s really supposed to be, just a fun time for students and community.”
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