A campus birthday party in Calgary turned into a dinosaur stampede and a record book update.
The University of Calgary says it has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs, after 682 people turned up in costume at the school’s Community Day on April 11.
The event marked the university’s 60th birthday. To celebrate, the university invited students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and local residents to what it called Rex’s Jurassic Jamboree, asking people to come dressed as their favourite dinosaur.
The turnout was enough to beat the previous record of 468, which had been set by Cox Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach, Florida, on January 10, 2025.
According to the university, everyone who joined the count arrived in dinosaur costumes for the event on campus. The day also included a free barbecue and a meet and greet with Olympians who have ties to UCalgary.
University of Calgary Vice-Provost Verity Turpin told the Canadian Broadcasting Company the costumes covered a wide range of styles.
“People showed up in some fabulous onesies [and] blow-up dinos where you could not see any part of the person inside except for their feet,” Turpin said.
After people arrived, they danced to songs performed by a local band while waiting for the official count. They also sang “We Are the Champions” by Queen as a Guinness adjudicator worked through the numbers.
Turpin said the crowd knew the record had fallen before the final total was even announced.
“As soon as we heard Guinness say, ‘Six,’ we knew we broke the record,” Turpin shared. “And no one listened to anything after that. We were all screaming and hugging each other. It was awesome.”
University of Calgary president and vice-chancellor Ed McCauley also celebrated the result, tying the win back to the school’s anniversary and the crowd that helped pull it off.
“The old record is extinct,” McCauley joked during an interview with the Calgary Herald. “This is just a great example of the University of Calgary and our Calgary community coming together to set a world record.”
The original record for the largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs was set on January 26, 2019, in Los Angeles, California.
The new mark came at the university’s April 11 Community Day, where 682 people dressed as dinosaurs were counted by Guinness.
