Breaking a World Record

Abraham Lincoln presenter Gary Cooney led residents of Huntley in a speech for the records late Friday morning.

Participants simultaneously read Lincoln’s Farewell Address to beat the current world record for joint reading aloud.  Lincoln gave this impromtu speech when he left Springfield to go to Washington, D.C. in 1861 to be inaugurated as president.  The speech was read three times for five minutes starting at 11 a.m. in the Drendel Ballroom at Prairie Lodge in Huntley. 

A projector with a live video feed from Springfield’s Great Western Railroad Depot, where Lincoln first gave his speech 150 years ago, was also set up at the event. 

Lincoln’s speech was chosen because this year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  In addition, February 12 is Lincoln’s birthday and he was born in Kentucky but spent most of his young life in Illinois. 

Before the reading, Cooney presented a number of facts about Lincoln in his Abraham Lincoln garb. 

He said that Lincoln knew before he became president that he was going to divide the country because he wanted to preserve the Union.  Cooney also said that if Lincoln were alive today, he would have been diagnosed as manic depressive because of all the deaths that he was inadvertently responsible for causing. 

Lincoln was also against killing animals and the one time he had to hunt he cried the whole time.  He also saved an injured dog one time, which in turn saved him one time when he was caught in some rocks. 

Dottie Bobzin, member of the Lifestyle Department's Civics Committee, who helped put the event together, said she had hoped for more people in a community of 5,000, but was still pleased with the turnout. 

Davis Jackson, a 9 year old from Woodstock, came to the event with his mother so he could meet Cooney's Abraham Lincoln.

The boy admires Lincoln because Lincoln wanted to stop slavery and show that the blacks are people too. 

Cynthia O’Connor, lifestyles director of the Sun City Community Association of Huntley, said the final count for Huntley was 140 people. 

O’Connor said the numbers will now be sent in and news articles collected to show the reading actually took place. 

Cooney, the Lincoln presenter, has been doing events dressed as Abraham Lincoln for about 38 years.

He said he practiced the speech about eight or nine times before the reading started today. 

“I started reciting it until I got it down pat,” he said. “I probably bored my wife to tears.”

Cooney likes telling stories about Lincoln more than reading speeches.

“People tend to be interested in the stories more than the speeches,” he said.  “We all learned the speeches in school.” 

Although, Cooney finds it interesting that even speech Lincoln wrote mentions God at one point. 

“Even though he was not baptized, he was extremely religious and believed in God,” he said. 

There was also a display of period railroad cars by the Eakin Creek and Kishwaukee Model Railroad Club and the Huntley Area Public Library displayed books on Lincoln.

Trains displayed were N-Gauge, G-Gauge and O-Gauge trains. 

“Most of us have trains so when we retired we had more time to play them,” said Don Espeseth, president of the club.  “We run trains at the club (which has been in existence for about eight years).”

The news from Springfield

The event was broadcast from Springfield so other towns participating could see exactly when Springfield started reading as a starting point.

Dave Blanchette, communications manager for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, said 583 people came out to Springfield today and the numbers from the other towns will probably take a couple weeks to count.  The agency, along with a number of other groups, helped put the event together.   

Each location needs to submit a statement signed by two witnesses and turn it in to Springfield, who will in turn submit those records to the Guinness World Record committee for review. 

“The other towns have to mail in verification forms,” he said.  “We should know by the end of the month if we are going to break the record or not, then Guinness has to verify the number.  We will only submit it if it appears to us whether we are going to break the record.”

Right now, the record for people reading something aloud simultaneously is set at 223, 363 by Walden books reading "Charlotte’s Web."  People read at 909 of their venues across the United States on December 13, 2006.

Blanchette said the turnout was higher than he expected.  He was hoping for a few hundred and got around five hundred participants. 

The witnesses need to be someone who has standing in the community, such as clergymen, educators, elected officials and so on, according to Blanchette.  Photographs may also be included to verify the reading.    

Blanchette said news released, Twitter, Facebook and word of mouth were all used to get participants from different states and towns for the event.