Snow days are a special occurrence in Seattle. When the snowflakes actually stick around, people flock outdoors to hop on a sled, build a snowman, or even play the bagpipes on the Microsoft campus (eh, why not?).
Winter merriment will return to the area this Saturday, as thousands gather at Seattle Center to set a new Guinness record for world's largest snowball fight. But unlike other Seattle snow days, this one won't be left up to the weather.
Organizers plan to truck in about 162,000 pounds of snow—enough to fill 34 dump trucks—from the Cascades. Organizer Neil Bergquist told KPLU there will be an assembly line with front-loaders unpacking all the trucks. "Dump trucks will be coming in, one every 10 minutes for about five hours,” he said.
The existing record for largest snowball fight was set three years ago in South Korea and included 5,387 participants. The Seattle organizers hope to attract at least 6,000 people to Saturday's event.
In addition to the snowball fight at 5 p.m., the fun includes a snow castle building contest and celebratory pub crawl. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased through the event website (Just 250 tickets were left Monday, according to an announcement on Facebook.)
The snowball fight is a 21+ event. Proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County.
