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WEEKLY NEWS 3: Giant Popsicle Floods Park

While vying for the world’s largest Popsicle record on the first official day of summer, representatives of a national drink company suddenly found themselves in a sticky situation.

On June 21, 2005, during an attempt to erect a 25-foot tall frozen mold of Snapple juice by a construction crane, the icy treat melted faster than anyone had anticipated. The kiwi-strawberry juice flooded Union Square, located in Manhattan in New York City. Firefighters were forced to close off several streets and had to use hoses to wash away the sugary substance.

“What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept coming,” Stuart Claxton of the Guinness Book of World Records told the Daily News. “It was quite a lot of fluid. On a hot day like this, you have to move fast.”

The giant Popsicle was a publicity stunt by the Snapple company to promote its new line of frozen treat. The attempt had already been called off before the Popsicle was lifted because officials at Snapple were concerned that it would collapse because of the summer heat. Temperatures in New York City climbed to 80 degrees that day.

Snapple officials said the company was unlikely to make a second attempt to break the world’s largest Popsicle record. The current record was set in Holland in 1997 with an ice pop that was 21-feet tall.

--Written by Leah Williams

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