Kaohsung, Dec. 3 (CNA) More than 1,800 people in Kaohsiung broke a world record Saturday by knitting scarves simultaneously to top off a cultural festival.
A total of 1,805 knitters, including students and community volunteers, completed nearly finished scarves at Fongshan Stadium to mark the end of the Cao Jin Cultural Festival.
They broke the Guinness World Record for the Largest Number of People Knitting Simultaneously in a single location previously set by 1,146 knitters in Ireland's Roscommon Lamb Festival April 30.
The record-breaking knit-a-thon was witnessed by Tsai Po-ying, deputy director-general of the city's Civil Affairs Bureau and a lawyer. The organizers said they will register the feat with the Guinness World Records.
The scarves will be given away to under-priviledged groups, including the disabled, senior citizens living in nursing homes and single-parent families, said the organizers.
The annual festival is held in memory of Cao Jin, a municipal director of the late Qing Dynasty, for his efforts to build the Caogong Canal, which consisted of 44 water channels that helped irrigate 2,473 hectares of agricultural land.