Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Cheers! Giant smoothie breaks record at Convocation

Dining Services cooked up some excitement at the annual New Student Convocation and the Guinness Book of World Records certified their efforts. The world’ largest smoothie – a 330-gallon pink delight – was created from 960 pounds of yogurt, 600 pounds of strawberries and 105 gallons of pineapple juice.

Student supervisor Kyle Goethals pours ingredients in as the smoothie bucket brigade comes to an end.

Student supervisor Kyle Goethals pours ingredients in as the smoothie bucket brigade comes to an end.

After about six months of planning, the mixing started about 8:30 a.m. and wrapped up about four hours later, using a refrigerated truck on the west side of Memorial Stadium.

The giant smoothie served about 8,000 students at the conclusion of Convocation at the stadium.

Each 4-ounce serving contained a modest 166 calories, but the total creation supplied a whopping 794,794 calories, 17, 556 grams of protein, 4,385 grams of fat, and 176,931 grams of carbohydrate.
Kirsten Ruby, assistant director of housing for marketing, said the event was such a success workers may try to repeat the feat.

“The bug for setting records may have indeed hit the staff and discussions are under way about what next year’a record might be,” she said.

Prairie Farms, which purchases and processes milk from campus cows, donated 250 pounds of yogurt to help in the attempt.

The previous record for the world’s largest smoothie was held by Dairy Farmers of Canada, which created a 264-gallon smoothie in July 2010. 

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