Veishea may be a record-breaking affair this year, as Veishea coordinators work to build the world’s largest Rice Krispie Treat.

The current record – a 2,260 pound treat – was set in October 1997 at Michigan State University.

The project was part of a fundraising opportunity for the school’s homecoming celebration. Veishea committee members are planning to make a 2,500 pound treat to break the record.

“Our goal is to beat the world record for the largest Rice Krispie Treat and be in the Guinness Book,” said Alyssa Armbrecht, Rice Krispie Treat committee chairwoman. “I’m 100 percent sure it will happen. I wouldn’t work this hard on something I didn’t think would turn out. It’s a huge project. There are so many people helping out, I don’t think it will fail.”

Mildred Day, 1928 graduate of the ISU College of Home Economics, invented the Rice Krispie treat when she was an employee for Kellogg, Armbrecht said.

Day concocted the treat as a Campfire fundraiser in the early 1930s.

Students at Michigan State are cheering on the Veishea crew.

“I think it’s cool Iowa State is attempting to break our record,” said Rebecca Bunker, MSU senior in English. “I think we might try to reclaim our record in the spirit of competition. It would be a fun activity to do again.”

Bunker helped make the treat at Michigan State when she was a freshman and said she enjoyed being a part of the record-breaking experience.

“It was weird working with huge kettles of Rice Krispie Treat and seeing people walking on it with bags on their feet pushing it down in the back of a truck,” she said.

MSU sold the 2,260 pound treat as a fundraiser during the homecoming celebration, and donated the money to a women’s shelter, Bunker said. The ingredients were donated by Kellogg Foods.

Armbrecht, senior in food science, said she hopes to sell the treat and donate the proceeds to the Youth and Shelter Services in Ames.

The treat will be made the Friday of Veishea, April 20, in the Friley food service kitchen, said Kathy Craig, Veishea co-chair.

The project will start at 2 p.m., will last about 10 hours, and will take about 80 people to make the treat.

Armbrecht said the treat will be eight feet long, nine feet wide and two feet high. It will be poured in to a form made by the material science and engineering department, headed by Steve Martin, professor of materials science and engineering.

Making the treat “is a really cool project,” Armbrecht said. “It would be amazing to see Iowa State in the Guinness Book and have ISU be famous for something like that.”

Craig, senior in Spanish, said this project is a creative way to recognize the accomplishments made by members of the ISU family which the public may not be aware of.

“Inventing the treat is one of the crazy things that goes on out of the ordinary,” she said. “It shows Iowa State students do more then just go to school.”