World records set at Taste of the Danforth

Toronto’s 20th annual Taste of the Danforth set two unofficial world records this past weekend and cracked their own personal best attendance record.

Unofficially, attendees broke the Guinness World Record for the largest zorba dance and for the largest yogurt bowl.

And, festival organizers, said, more than 1.5 million people attended – shattering the previous record of 1.3 million.

“While Taste of the Danforth is, in part, a celebration of Greek culture, the Festival is also a celebration of Canada’s cultural mosaic,” said Constantine Voidonicolas, part of the Greektown on The Danforth BIA.

“It was a pleasure to see Torontonians of all shapes, sizes, creeds, colour and heritage dancing together on the Danforth and simply enjoying the food and the weather.”

Thousands of those attendees tried to dance their way into the record books, linking hands for a rousing zorba dance. The previous record was set by Volos, Greece in 2012 with 5,614 dancers.

The festival’s own unofficial count is that 7,835 dancers participated for a full five minutes.

“We will be submitting all of our documentation shortly, and we are hopeful that we will receive the official word from Guinness over the next few weeks,” organizers said.

As for the world’s largest yogurt bowl, organizers said they hoped to “decimate” the existing record, set in South Africa in 2010. The previous record was 1,199 pounds of Rooibos yogourt.

Sunday’s attempt weighed 1,600 pounds.

“Our goal was not to beat the record but rather to decimate the record and we were successful,” organizer Howard Lichtman said.

“Our container was almost a foot taller and our container with yogourt was more than 400 pounds heavier.”

According to the event’s website, the festival generated $32-million in economic activity in 2010. The festival sponsor, Pilaros and its organizer, Greektown on The Danforth BIA, donate a portion of the event’s proceeds to the Toronto East General Hospital.

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