Homegrown Mini-Golf and Kelder's Farm wishes to announce that our record-breaking 13' 6" giant garden gnome, fondly known as Chomsky, has lost the Guinness World Record it has held since 2006 as largest garden gnome.

In an attempt to top our gnome, a group at the University of Iowa Reiman Gardens took up the challenge and unveiled a 15' cement gnome last April.

However, when the Reiman Gardens group applied for a Guinness World Record, they were informed by Guinness that the record for largest garden gnome had already been broken by a Polish group called MALPOL.

MALPOL created a 17' 8" tall gnome of fiberglass in 2009 and had been granted the world record by Guinness. Neither we nor the Reiman Gardens group knew because it didn't make international news.

A secondary issue is that the Polish gnome is made of fiberglass, and Guinness rules state that to qualify for largest or smallest object, authenticity of material must be maintained: i.e. the largest candle must be made of wax. We, and the Reiman Gardens group, took this to mean that the largest garden gnome must be made of terracotta or cement, the traditional materials of garden gnomes. But apparently, Guinness felt that fiberglass was good enough.

Friends and Community Respond

Our friendly gnome, in his five years in Kerhonkson and the Rondout Valley, has become a landmark and favorite member of the community. He dresses up for Halloween and carries fresh flowers in the summer. As we shared the news of this fateful day with his friends and fans we were delighted to receive many responses and ideas, some of which we'd like to share.

Graham Parker, musician: "I thought I saw a tear in Chomsky's eye when I passed by the other day.
Cheer up fella, those others are just pretenders."

Mark Brown, balladeer and an Official Witness for our Guinness World Record: "It is true I suppose, that records, like hearts, are made to be broken. However, as I rode past Chomsky today he seemed unmoved by the whole affair. He still gazes west with that confidence and joy that he has always exuded. I would wager that Chomsky would kick the ass of any of these other gnomes. Bring 'em on!!!!!"

Carl Chipman, Town of Rochester Supervisor: "We held the record for a good four years. Our gnome is still very precious to us."

Deborah Artman, librettist and writer: "I am outraged that a gnome made of a synthetic material such as fiberglass would be accepted by the folks at Guinness. If any organization should be a stickler for authenticity, Guinness is it! It's time for a petition! I'm ready to sign!"

April Silver: "I'm beside myself! Sounds like the Polish "fiberglass" version is a deal breaker, not a record breaker."

We have written to the Guinness Company to ask them about their perplexing decision to allow a fiberglass gnome to qualify. But even were they to disqualify the Polish contender, we're still topped by the cement gnome in Iowa. What to do?

Chomsky Grows Up

Our friends had ideas--ideas to make Chomsky the biggest once again. The ideas were so great
we couldn't resist trying them out to see how they'd look. (We love Photoshop!) We've mocked-up the first to come in:

Adding a tall flower to Chomsky's hat gives him a jaunty air, suggested by 8-year-old Bella Ramirez.

A bigger hat would do the job--but how could he keep an eye on Route 209?

There are more fabulous and outrageous ideas coming in for "growing" Chomsky that we are creating images of--please contact us for for more info! And click on either of the photos above for higher resolution images that you may publish, with credit to "Homegrown Mini-Golf."