“We wanted to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for something, so we had to figure out what,” says CC! coordinator Pam Bunte. Hence she and other youth leaders created a giant vinyl bookmark, three feet wide by sixteen feet long. It reads “CHARACTER COUNTS!” and lists the Six Pillars of Character below. The mammoth object hung in the Fort Dodge public library throughout CC! Week, and over 900 children and even a few parents signed their names on it. The most common question was: “How big is the book it’s marking?”

Building it was one thing and getting into the Guinness Book was another.  When Bunte contacted Guinness officials, she found they didn’t have a category for largest bookmark — though they do for biggest chicken dance (72,000 people) and largest four-leaf clover collection. Bunte persisted, talking with the Guinness people until they agreed to review the matter. “At least we haven’t been turned down,” she says.