Royal Oak Needs 'More Cowbell' Saturday to Shatter Guinness Record

Industrial pioneer Orville Starr opened Royal Oak’s first factory, manufacturing cowbells and bricks. Today, the cowbells are sought-after antiques. (Photo via Flickr)

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Royal Oak needs “more cowbell” – a lot more if a fundraising challenge Saturday is going to break a Guinness World Record.

Here’s the deal, according to The Oakland Press:

The Royal Oak Historical Society Museum needs some cash, so organizers of an upcoming fundraiser are borrowing the famous “more cowbell” line from a 2000 “Saturday Night Live” TV skit starring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken.

It’s not just a chance to say “more cowbell” – though who doesn’t enjoy throwing out that punch line every now and again?

And it isn’t as if Royal Oak is without cowbell. It has quite a lot of it, actually.

Orson Starr, one of Royal Oak’s pioneering industrialists, was the king of cowbells. He started Royal Oak’s first business in 1831, and it produced a line of brass cowbells that are sought-after antiques today. A collection of 16 cowbells made at Orson Starr’s factory are included in an exhibit at the Historical Society Museum, located at 1411 W. Webster Road.

So, in keeping with Royal Oak’s historical cowbell past, 3,000 of them have been ordered, and the plan is for everybody to get together on Aug. 1 and – hear this – ring them for five consecutive minutes.

That’s a lot of cowbell, and of long enough duration to shatter the current Guinness record, according to Matt Flynn, race director for Ultimate Fun Runs and organizer of the Cowbell Classic 10K and 5K run taking place the same day.

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Breaking the record may not be as easy as it, well, sounds. Therein lies the challenge.

“It’s probably more difficult that you think because that’s a long time to listen to cowbells,” Flynn told The Oakland Press.

Plus, the bell ringers will be expected to stay somewhat in time as they clang to the beat to “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 hit featured in the SNL cowbell skit.

Event details are found here.