Happiness and positivity filled the streets of Portsmouth yet again.
December 14th was a cold, rainy afternoon, but that did not stop the hundreds of people that came out that day to achieve what would be a third world record! This Guinness World Record attempt was to wrap the most gifts simultaneously with the previous record being held at 876, held by Birmingham, England.
Burnside Brankamp Law attorney and Friends of Portsmouth member, Jeremy Burnside, rushed all over Market Square where he assisted the volunteers and the participants to ensure this world record attempt ran as smoothly as possible. It was a big day for Portsmouth and Jeremy came prepared. “We only had 200 people registered the Monday before so there was some anxiety over whether we could break this record,” Jeremy said, “but the community came together and it was awesome.”
The final tally of wrappers was over 1,500, but with some deductions, the final new record-setting number was set at 1,482. Jeremy added, “The goal with breaking these world records is to build a foundation of hope so that we believe in ourselves and outsiders take note of Portsmouth as an ideal place for a new business or idea.”
It is about unity. Coming together as a community is how Portsmouth will continue to recover and grow. Seeing all the excitement and celebrations throughout the weekend was truly inspiring – that is why we are proud of our Portsmouth community. These stories of people joining their city is what we love to see and we love seeing it happen right here in Portsmouth.
This world record was a huge step in the right direction for Portsmouth and we would like to thank all of you that came out to celebrate together. We also would like to thank Friends of Portsmouth for uniting our community and organizing this world record attempt!