The World’s Largest Cougar Tail event on Nov. 28 was a major success as students, faculty and the public all participated to help BYU set a world record while donating money to the Food Bank.
Five-inch pieces of the 1,400-foot donut were sold for a dollar each, and for each dollar Community Action Services and Food Bank donated 17 pounds of food to the needy. The goal was to raise $3,000, which would amount to over 55,000 pounds of food donated to the Food Bank. The Alumni Association is still waiting for corporate donations, although it is already clear that the goal has been surpassed.
Doors opened at 8 a.m., and by 11 a.m. the donut was half gone. The original goal was to create a quarter-mile long donut, and BYU Dining Services added an extra 100 feet. By the end of the day only 120 pieces remained uneaten, although all had been paid for.
Ellie Ott is the program’s vice president over traditions for the Student Alumni Association and was pleased with the turnout for the event.
“We opened our doors at eight this morning and have been really pleased with the turnout,” Ott said. “We came up with the idea for this last year, and there’s been a great response.”
There is currently no world record for the world’s longest donut, but BYU is submitting its application to Guiness to set the record.
Adam Durfee was the project manager and was in charge of the promotions for the event.
“It started as a project for one of my classes,” Durfee said. “My whole class got behind it, and we partnered with BYU Dining Services and the Alumni Association to make it happen. The Student Alumni Association had already been thinking of doing something like this, so with our team of 30 people it really took off.”
BYU Dining Services, the Alumni Association and countless students all played major roles in making the event a success.
Maddie Simon is a freshman from Murray majoring in business management and works at the BYU Culinary Support Center.
“All of the cougar tails are made and frosted by hand,” Simon said. “(For this event), we started making the tail at 2 p.m. yesterday and went through the night. It took at least 10 or 11 hours.”
The event drew attention from news sources around the state. Fox 13 news was on location to cover the event live. The event also had a major presence in multiple social media outlets in the weeks leading up to the event, including its own YouTube channel, CougarTailFilms.
Colin Rivera, from the band The Lovecapades, was also present to provide entertainment for the event.
“It’s an awesome cause,” Rivera said. “It’s obviously been a lot of people coming together and caring about the same issue and donating their time, money and talents.”
