City of Urbana and Museum of the Grand Prairie Attempt to Set New Guinness World Record

City of Urbana and Museum of the Grand Prairie to Participate In Attempt to Set New Guinness World Record with Reading of Historic Lincoln Speech

Champaign, IL – On Friday, February 11th at 11 a.m. CST, the City of Urbana and the Museum of the Grand Prairie will hold public speaking engagements in effort to set a new Guinness World Record for most simultaneous readings from the same document. As part of the national kickoff of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, readings of Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 “Farewell Address” from the Great Western Depot in Springfield, Illinois, will be staged nationwide in attempt to beat the record of 223,363 participants.

The City of Urbana will host a reading in the lobby of the City Building located at 400 S. Vine Street and Mayor Laurel Prussing will participate in the event. The lobby will be decorated with a Lincoln/Civil War display including a large photo of Lincoln, a copy of the speech printed in the newspaper of the time and photos of soldiers. Attendees will also get a sneak peak of the Historic Past Casts that the city is producing – an audio visual look back at our Lincoln heritage. The Museum of the Grand Prairie (formerly the Early American Museum), located on Route 47 in Mahomet, will host a reading at the entrance to the “Champaign County’s Lincoln” exhibit within the museum. Following the museum reading there will be a showing of the video “Champaign County During the Civil War.” Both events are free and open to the public.

Lincoln’s “Farewell Address,” delivered when the president-elect departed for Washington, D.C., will be re-enacted on its 150th anniversary at the Great Western Depot in Springfield and a live webcast has been set up to allow anyone in the nation to participate in the reading. Guinness World Records requires that the readings last at least five minutes so participants will read the “Farewell Address” several times to meet the threshold for the record.

Champaign County has the rare opportunity to celebrate its Lincoln heritage while playing part in this nationwide commemoration and event. The Champaign County Convention and Visitors Bureau has been and will continue to work with local organizers to increase the county’s impact in the world record attempt and to gain maximum exposure for our participants. To arrange your own reading or for more information, contact Libby Kacich at (217)351-4133.