Austin Kurtis, 5, left, and his big sister Ella, 10, of Levack, Ont., created a 240-kilogram (530-pound) Nanaimo bar for a Guinness World Records attempt. The organization confirmed last week that the children succeeded in achieving a new world record. (Photo submitted)

Austin Kurtis, 5, left, and his big sister Ella, 10, of Levack, Ont., created a 240-kilogram (530-pound) Nanaimo bar for a Guinness World Records attempt. The organization confirmed last week that the children succeeded in achieving a new world record. (Photo submitted)

World’s biggest Nanaimo bar confirmed, but it’s not in Nanaimo

Two Ontario children set the bar high with successful biggest Nanaimo bar world record attempt

It’s official. Guinness World Records has confirmed the first-ever world record attempt to create the biggest Nanaimo bar is a success, but the bar isn’t in Nanaimo.

Weighing in at more than 240 kilograms (530 pounds), the world’s biggest Nanaimo bar was created at the Northwest Fudge Factory in Levack, Ont., by Ella Kurtis, 10, and her little brother Austin Kurtis, 5, in March. Their mother and Northwest Fudge Factory owner, Chantelle Gorham, said word came from Guinness World Records last week that the organization had officially given its stamp of approval to the record attempt.

“I’m really, really relieved to be honest and mainly because it’s my children’s record,” Gorham said in a phone interview Monday. “If it was declined on my behalf I really wouldn’t lose any sleep, but half of Guinness records – they say over half – are declined because of things like insufficient evidence … and they don’t give you much notice.”

Gorham said after the record attempt was announced, other record sites had proclaimed success and in some cases those organizations offer to provide a certificate of authenticity for a price. Guinness makes no such offers and is completely free of charge.

“But they make you work for that record,” she said.

The official certification certificate will hopefully arrive in time for the children’s birthdays, which are a day apart on July 14 and 15.

“So with any luck we’ll actually have the certificates on their sixth and eleventh birthdays,” Gorham said.

This is the first world record attempt at the biggest Nanaimo bar and Gorham said she would support any attempt by someone in Nanaimo to challenge the record. It’s also a good time for anyone to take it on since it’s a new record and the weights and measurements are still relatively low compared to some records which were started decades ago and have been challenged time and again with each successful record attempt translating into some onerous weights and materials quantities.

The biggest reward, Gorham said, is seeing the effect earning a world record has on her children.

“The reward is just that you’ve got two kids with the combined age of 15 running around thinking that they own the world,” she said.

As for the fate of the world’s biggest Nanaimo bar, Gorham said the entire confection was consumed within about one week after it was created and weighed for the world record attempt.

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Nanaimo News Bulletin