Alcala town girds for Guinness attempts

ALCALA, Pangasinan — With all 1,000 grills sold out, this town is holding a dry-run this Saturday of its attempt to grab the Guinness world records for the longest and the longest barbeque grill.

Mayor Manuel Collado told The STAR he wants everything to proceed without hitches on April 29 when Alcala officially makes its bid for the Guinness titles as part of the town’s fiesta celebration.

"Talagang pinaghahandaan namin itong mabuti (We are really preparing well for this)," he said.

Collado said the sample grills, about 100 meters long, will be lined up in front of the Central School during the dry-run.

Monterey is providing the charcoal and pork barbeque for the April 29 event.

The town hopes to have a three-kilometer long barbeque grill in its attempt to outdo Dagupan City’s 2005 feat of 2.2 kilometers.

While Dagupan grilled its famous Bonuan bangus (milkfish), Alcala folk will grill pork and bangus for their official Guinness attempt.

After the feat, though, the locals can grill anything from chicken, hotdogs, vegetables, talaba (oysters) or eggplants.

For the longest grill attempt, Alcala town is girding for a 150-meter long grill; the current record is 33 meters.

Collado said they are raising funds through the event by selling the grills at $100 each to Alcalenians who work or reside abroad.

A local foundation will handle the proceeds and use them for health, education and livelihood projects.

Event organizers are expecting a crowd of 20,000 people. — Eva Visperas