[Note: See update below!]
Today from 11 to 1 p.m. in Union Square Park - a mere block away from my office, and I can feel the excitement from here - Snapple will be attempting to break the world record for Largest Ice Pop. I walked by there at 10 (late for work) and there was a big crane and many Snapple trucks standing around.

The official blurb:
Snapple is attempting to break the existing Guinness World Record for the "World's Largest Ice Pop" on June 21 by erecting a two and a half story, 20-ton kiwi strawberry-flavored, edible Snapple on Ice pop in New York City's Union Square. New Yorkers and tourists alike will be overwhelmed by the immense "ice scraper" which will stand 24-feet tall, 5-feet wide and 5-feet thick. There will be free samples for all who attend.

Damn right I'm attending. I only wish I'd brought my camera.

Update: So I walk over to the big staging area at around 12:30, and there's no ice pop - there's just a guy continually talking, like a sideshow barker, over some dance-y pop music. He says that the pop will rise soon, because it's melting. I wander around and get a free strawberry-kiwi ice pop - Snapple's selling popsicles now, check your grocer's freezer! - and notice that the Snapple Lady, I guess her name's Wendy (I've never seen the Snapple ads with her in them), is installed in a tent, signing photos for free. There's a line, but it's short, and it's in a good spot for viewing the ascension of the popsicle. So I get on line (to get an autographed photo for my niece, for the sake of hilarity) and wait, and wait. The woman behind me starts chatting with me, and says that to get here she had had to walk around what smelled and looked like a huge puddle of Snapple. Hmm... Behind various crates and trucks I can see just the smallest piece of the side of the huge popsicle, shining wetly in the hot sun. One o'clock comes and goes, and here's Wendy leaving the tent to go announce the raising of the giant pink phallus. And because I want to see that, and because I still want my free autographed photo, I wait some more. But eventually it's 1:10 and I have to go eat before my meeting, so I leave my spot on line and try to walk to the sandwich store. And then I see the hold-up; the fire department is hosing down Park Avenue, for which traffic has been entirely halted, because (as a passer-by told me) "the popsicle melted all over the road."

So that is the story of how I missed seeing the World's Largest Popsicle, AND how I missed my opportunity to meet The Snapple Lady.