More than five and a half football fields worth of maple bars will wind through BYU’s Garden Court on Nov. 28th to create the world’s longest maple bar.
The event is part of BYU Alumni’s annual food drive, and proceeds will go to Utah Community Action Services and Food Bank to provide food for local poverty-stricken families.
The giant pastry will be made up of 105 dozen Cougar Tails, a 16-inch doughnut unique to BYU.
“On the morning of the event, our pastry chef will fit the 1,260 Cougar Tails together, end to end, to create one continuous Cougar Tail — a quarter of a mile long,” Dean Wright, director of Dining Services, said in an email.
The signature treat is one of the most popular items provided by BYU Dining Services.
“We are known around the country for our famous Cougar Tails,” Wright added. “We sell around 200 dozen every football game. They are handmade in the Culinary Support Center. As are all of our donuts, the Cougar Tails for this event will be made fresh the night before.”
The treat will be sold to the public in five-inch increments for $1 a piece.
“We’re shooting for $3,000, and when we talked to the Community Action Services, they said it would be about 50,000 lbs of food,” Amber Singh, a volunteer coordinator for the event, said.
For the first time ever, BYU is teaming up with Utah Valley University for the annual food drive.
“In the past, it has been a competition with the University of Utah that would finish on the day of the rivalry football game,” Ryan Waite, another volunteer event coordinator, said. “But with conference realignments and future scheduling conflicts, BYU decided to instead team up with UVU and help those in need in Utah County.”
The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Wilkinson Student Center Garden Court.
In honor of his famous tail, Cosmo the Cougar will be at the scene, as well as the country radio station K-Bull 93 FM.
For more information on how to help with the food drive, visit alumni.byu.edu.
