All together now: Connellsville group hopes to set world record
Connellsville group hopes to set inner tube record
On Aug. 1, hundreds of people in Connellsville will set forth on swim rings and inner tubes onto the Yough River.
If all goes as hoped, they鈥檒l come back to shore with a world record.
The world record attempt is the centerpiece of Tube da Ville, a festival being held at Yough River Park.
More than a year ago, Jason Bandemer and Kevin Leonard began kicking around ideas to do something big to commemorate the opening of Trippy Hippie, their new brewery in Connellsville.
While their site is still being prepared, the celebration quickly gained momentum.
They enlisted the help of Trail Town Development Association, a Connellsville nonprofit focused on revitalizing communities along area rail trails.
鈥淲e just sat down together, and we came up with this big idea, and we鈥檝e just been working to execute it for probably a year,鈥 Bandemer said.
In December, they received a $24,000 grant from Go Laurel Highlands to cover the cost of bringing someone from Guinness to certify the record.
鈥淭hat kind of kicked things in high gear and made it real, and that really gave us the opportunity to try to pull this thing off,鈥 Bandemer said.
To break the record, people must be able to hold onto the handle of the next person鈥檚 raft for 30 seconds. If they don鈥檛 nail it on the first try, they will get two more attempts to break the record.
The current record has stood since 2013, when 620 people linked tubes together in Portland, Oregon.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e actually been really supportive of what we鈥檙e doing,鈥 Bandemer said. 鈥溾t was cool, because you had a little bit of a blueprint to go off of.鈥
They had to tweak that blueprint to fit the idea to Pennsylvania. The Portland tubers used the Willamette River, a wide river more akin to the Monongahela.
While the original plans called for one continuous line, the stronger currents and varying depths of the Yough made that impractical.
In consultation with the people from Guinness, the Tube da Ville organizers made a new plan: a snake line.
Six or seven lines, about 150 people deep, will line up single-file on the shore of the park, then go out one group at a time with a stringer line as a guide.
鈥淭hat will be used to keep the integrity of the line, just keep them in place until we鈥檙e ready to connect everybody and all the groups, and then break the record,鈥 Bandemer said.
If people can hold on, the record should be theirs.
Tube da Ville set up preregistration in January, and ordered 1,000 rafts. By the end of March, every space was filled.
Some people have had to drop out along the way, but there hasn鈥檛 been a problem filling their spot.
鈥淚鈥檓 getting messages every day about people joining the wait list,鈥 Bandemer said. 鈥淚t just keeps growing.鈥
All those who can鈥檛 get out on the water will still have a chance to participate in the day鈥檚 fun.
Live bands will be playing from noon to 8 p.m. on two stages 鈥 one at the Yough River Park, and another nearby on Third Street at the future home of Trippy Hippie.
Twenty-plus food vendors and five breweries from around the region will also be coming. Bandemer also brewed a new beer, a hazy IPA called Ripple Effect, to commemorate the event.
Bandemer thanked the community for its help in making the event come together, from the 10-person organizing committee to coordination with local agencies in closing down streets for the festival.
Early estimates call for 5,000 to 10,000 people to show up on the day of the event, potentially bringing more than $250,000 of economic impact, Bandemer said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not a campsite left, there鈥檚 not an Airbnb, there鈥檚 not a hotel room,鈥 Bandemer said. 鈥淭he idea of this was to bring people into our area, and we鈥檝e got people coming from different states and traveling significant distances to come participate in this event. For a first-year event, it鈥檚 pretty impressive.鈥
They won鈥檛 necessarily attempt a world record every year, but Bandemer hopes to continue the festival annually.
鈥淲e would like to keep it going,鈥 he said.