Jarrett's Castle May Be a World Record at Just over 38 Feet

A night of pouring rain and thunder and lightning may have worried Ed Jarrett as he slept in his trailer beside his sandcastle.

But the inclement weather is not hindering his attempt to break his own Guinness record for the World's Tallest Sandcastle, as the surveyors announced the official measurement of the castle without the wooden supports -- 38 feet, 0.75 inches.

“If we were to submit all of our documentation to Guinness today, we would meet the criteria for the World Record,” said Jarrett, whose current Guinness World Record for the Tallest Sandcastle stands at 31 feet, 6 inches.  “However, while every surface of the sandcastle has been sculpted, or carved, to a certain extent, I want to complete the castle from a truly artistic standpoint and will continue designing it over the next few days.”

Jarrett will send photographs and video of the process and final product to Guinness, along with samples of media coverage and two official letters from Farmington town officials and other necessary application material. It can take up to six to eight weeks for Guinness to come out, see the castle and review the final product. So, now all he has to do is wait.

But that doesn't mean he is stopping work on the castle. Jarrett continues to do sculpting at the base, as local artists and volunteers work on sculptures around the castle.

The site is opened to the public starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the price of $10 a carload to benefit the Save Walton Pond project at Winding Trails, Special Olympics Connecticut, Gifts of Love, New Horizons, and UCONN Children’s Cancer Fund.