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Some world records are just silly, like the fastest time to push one orange with the nose or the most snails on the face for 10 seconds. And some actually say a lot about the people who broke them and the places where they happened — like in Maine, where some of the world records have to do with things that are symbolic of our state and its people.
Here are six of those world records, along with two that were sadly broken in more recent years.
World’s largest lobster roll and largest whoopie pie
We start this list off with world records the state once held for some of Maine’s most iconic foods. In 2009 Amato’s and Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine teamed up in Portland to create the world’s largest lobster roll, which boasted 45 pounds of lobster meat on a 61-foot bun. They held the record for five years until a sandwich shop in Texas beat them with a 100-foot lobster roll — a record that truly stings for Mainers proud of our lobstering industry.
Maine also once held the record for the world’s largest whoopie pie, set by Wicked Whoopies in South Portland in 2011 and weighing in at 1,062 pounds. That record was beaten just last month, when Dream Maker Bakers in Killington, Vermont, baked a 1,187-pound whoopie pie as part of the 2024 Rutland Whoopie Pie Festival. Wait, when did Vermont hold any claim to the whoopie pie? That’s Maine’s state treat. Stay in your lane, Vermonters!
World’s tallest snowperson, Bethel
Maine is the holder of the world record for the tallest snowperson, a feat accomplished 16 years ago in the town of Bethel. The town initially claimed the title in 1999 with a 113-foot snowman named for then Maine governor, now U.S. Sen. Angus King. In 2008, they went one step further and built Olympia Snowwoman, named for the former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who topped out at a whopping 122 feet — only a few feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty. A town in Austria attempted to beat Bethel’s record, but the Austrian snowman was disqualified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Bethel still stands tall.
World’s tallest statue of a Native American, Skowhegan
A Michigan town has the “largest” statue of a Native American — a 52-foot statue called Hiawatha, commissioned by a car dealership in 1964. But the 62-foot wooden statue of a Native American man created by Maine sculptor Bernard Langlais in Skowhegan in 1969 is far taller. Langlais, who grew up in Old Town next to the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, dedicated his statue to the Indigenous people who live in what is now called Maine. Though the statue was restored in 2010, its condition has since deteriorated further, including damage received during the destructive windstorms in Maine in January.
World’s longest standup comedy performance
Maine comedian Bob Marley — that’s Uncle Bobby to you, chummy — has been entertaining crowds across New England for decades, with his note-perfect take on weird, wonderful Mainers. Back in 2010, he also became a world record holder, when he did stand up comedy for 40 hours straight, on the stage of the now-closed Comedy Connection in Portland. The event was a fundraiser for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, so Marley did it for much more than just world record glory.
World’s largest collection of lunar and Martian meteorites
It’s pretty unusual that the town of Bethel shows up on a list of world records twice — once for snowpeople and once for a museum’s renowned collection of meteorites. The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in the 2,500-person town boasts the world’s largest collection of meteorites from the Moon and Mars — including the largest piece of the Moon known to exist on Earth, the largest known Martian meteorite and the oldest known piece of volcanic rock on Earth.
World’s largest ice carousel
When there’s something cold, and it spins around, who you gonna call? ICE BUSTERS! The Northern Maine Ice Busters in the St. John Valley in Aroostook County recaptured the world record for the world’s largest ice carousel in April 2023, after a hard-fought battle against groups in Minnesota and Finland. An ice carousel is a gigantic ice disk carved out of a body of water — in this case, Long Lake in St. Agatha — that must spin one full rotation without breaking to qualify for the record. The Maine ice carousel weighed more than 165,000 tons and measured 1,776 feet in diameter, and was cut through 29 inches of ice.
World’s tallest bridge observatory
The Penobscot Narrows Bridge between Prospect and Verona Island is an impressive feat of civil engineering and one of the coolest looking bridges in the northeastern United States. But the thing that makes the bridge a world record holder is the fact that it has an observation tower that is the tallest in the world, and the only one of its kind in the western hemisphere. Spectators take a 38-story elevator — the tallest and fastest in Maine — to the top of the 420-foot observation deck, which boasts a sweeping, panoramic view of the lower Penobscot River.
