Chase Carey & Petey’s Promise Make the World’s Largest Crayon
CONCORD, N.C. – What started out as a fun idea to complete his school project and bring awareness to his mom’s non-profit pet food bank turned into a labor of love for 10-year-old Chase Carey of Concord and resulted in a Guinness World Record.
Carey, a fifth-grader at W.R. Odell Elementary School and a member of the school’s Academically and Intellectually Gifted program, had to complete a 50-hour community service project. The son of non-profit, Petey’s Promise, founder Liz Mellott, he thought using crayons would be a great way to get children and adults to look at the harder side of pet ownership and to support the Petey’s Promise, which offers assistance to struggling pet owners throughout the Greater Charlotte area.
The charity is close to both Mellott and Carey’s heart as they faced losing their lab-spaniel mix when as a single mom Mellott was forced to make hard choices to survive financially. Luckily, they were able to keep Petey and when she got back on her feet, the non-profit was born. Since its inception in 2008, Petey’s Promise has fed more than 4,000 animals.
“We were lucky to keep Petey, and it makes me sad to think there are kids who lose their pets because their parents can’t feed them. I am very proud of my Mom and Petey’s Promise,” Carey said. “So I thought it would be fun to combine my project with it.”
Gathering more than 80,000 crayons over the course of five months, Chase talked everyone he knew into helping with the project. The plan was to melt all the crayons and assemble the almost 10-foot crayon on Oct. 29 at The Village Church in Concord during the Coloring for Critters Fall Festival and to unveil it in the late afternoon.
Physics, however, had other ideas. The massive crayon, which would eventually stand 9 feet 9 ¾ inches tall and weigh an impressive 731 pounds, was going to take a little longer than a few hours to assemble. With the help of lots of friends, family and members of the community, Carey and his engineers (his father, Ben Carey, and other employees of Roush-Yates Engines) had assembled the base of the crayon by 3 p.m., but that is when things started to go wrong.
Even with six months of testing, no one really knew how much time it would take 700 pounds of hot crayon wax to solidify. There were also unforeseen complications when the group went to attach the cone as the hot wax seeped out of the mold. The decision was made to let the crayon solidify for at least 48 hours to ensure it would hold.
“The best laid plans, right? It became apparent early in the day that this was going to be more about forgoing the plans of Coloring for Critters and more about an all-out thrash to make sure Chase met his goal,” said Mellott. “We had people in the community jumping in to buy crayons and peel crayons on site – just helping out any way they could to make sure we made that crayon. There is always time for festivals, games and other fundraising activities, but you only get the chance to make the world’s largest crayon once. At least if I have anything to say about it.”
Despite the setbacks, Chase and Petey’s Promise would not be denied their record. It might have taken an extra couple days, but the World’s Largest Homemade Crayon, Petey’s Passion, was completed at approximately 7 p.m. on Halloween night while trick-or-treaters were out in full force and photos with the crayons were in high demand. It broke the previous record held by a group in Hinesville, Ga., whose crayon set the record at 9 feet 8 inches, 605 pounds.
“I love it, but I’m done with crayons for a while,” Carey laughed. “I think it is cool that we’re going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records with the world’s largest crayon. I really want to thank everyone that helped and donated, especially my Mom and Dad.”
Coloring for Critters presented by Crocktees benefits Petey’s Promise and the W.R. Odell Elementary’s AIG program. The group is still working to meet their fundraising goal.
“It was a really ambitious project, and I think Chase has learned the magnitude of what he has done, the attention it garnered and is proud of the six months of hard work he has put in,” Mellott said. “However, at that point, I think he was ready to put on his costume and just be a kid again.”






