Mahwah Smiley Face Confirmed As Record Breaker

The Guinness Book of World Records has confirmed that a broke the world record for the biggest one ever created. The smiley, which was made up of 2,226 people wearing yellow and black ponchos, was the result of the ’s Youth Leadership Academy 2011 summer project.

“We made the human smiley last June, and just recently received confirmation from Guinness that it is in fact a world record,” Sgt. Robert Curtis, who helped orchestrate the record attempt, said. “It takes a long time to get a response from [Guinness].” According to the company’s website, it receives “60,000 record-related enquiries from people who want to set or break records” each year.

“Plus, the company is based in London, so the whole process can get lengthy,” Curtis said.

Curtis called the record verification process "intense." Though no Guinness official attended the making of the human smiley, the Youth Leadership Academy had to submit to the agency several official counters that tracked the number of smiley participants, verifications from four certified accountants, official photos taken from atop a Mahwah ladder fire truck, aerial shots taken from a Black Hawk military helicopter, proof that the group stayed in smiley formation for over 10 minutes, and more.

Mahwah’s smiley nearly tripled the old record of 768 people, set on May 6, 2011, in Croatia.

Mahwah's group officially held the record for just under a month. Guinness's website says Mahwah's record was broken by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Ontario, Canada on July 16, 2011. That group created a smiley face out of 2,961 participants.

Curtis said the MPD has not received official word from Guinness that it's record has been broken, but that may be due to communication delays.

Curtis, who now has the official documentation certifying Mahwah's record hanging on the wall of his MPD office, said future attempts that break Mahwah's record won't matter. “How many kids can say that they set a Guinness World Record?” Curtis asked. “The important thing here is the sense of accomplishment the Youth Leadership Academy kids felt, and still feel, for being a part of this.”

The YLA is a summer program for kids in the township put on by the fundraising group the and the MPD. The camp focuses on building leadership, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

The MMA, a group of police officers and volunteers, fundraises to support the three-night sleep away camp, which Mahwah Police Chief Batelli said costs $50 – $60K to put on. The officers who live and work with the seventh through twelfth graders for four days on the Ramapo College campus, are not paid overtime.

Last summer, the 171 teens who attended the camp helped orchestrate the record attempt.

“I really think we are blessed to have the support we do from the community to run a program as great as the Youth Leadership Academy,” Curtis said. “I work for a great police department in a great town that has fantastic kids in it. That is the perfect storm to make an attempt like this successful.”

He added, “I think it says a lot about the town that 200 teenagers choose to spend part of their summer vacation hanging out with cops.”

Curtis said he’s unsure whether or not this summer’s YLA, which will be the department’s sixth annual, will attempt to break another world record. “There is a lot involved with setting up the logistics of something like this. Plus, we want to make sure that it fits in with the curriculum of this year’s camp, and we want to make sure it’s special for all of the participants. We want the kids to remember it forever.”

For the campers, and the other 2,000-plus people who helped break the smiley face record, official certificates from Guinness are available for purchase. Curtis said about 40 people who were a part of the record have already ordered copies of the certificate through the MPD, which is Guinness’s point of contact in the township. Those that already ordered are waiting for the certificates from Guinness. Others who would like to order one, which Curtis said costs about $35, should email him directly at rcurtis@mahwahpd.org.