By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

Parading outside in the "world's longest bandana chain" Wednesday, students at Mariemont Elementary School hope for a listing in the Guinness Book of Records. The Cincinnati Enquirer/GARY LANDERS

MARIEMONT - A record for the longest bandana chain may have been set Wednesday at Mariemont Elementary.

Students in the K-6 school on Wooster Pike collected 1,086 brightly colored handkerchiefs for the Wild West Carnival fund-raiser Friday, tied them together, then stretched them around the perimeter of the school building at 11 a.m.

Staff and parents whisked students - each gripping part of the 1/3-mile bandana chain - out the school's front door, down the steps and around the west side of the building.

"We have more bandanas than we have kids," said parent Julie Curran, as she directed kindergartners.

Event organizers and Guinness Book of Records followers say there is no record for longest bandana chain.

However, even if the school's unusual feat doesn't qualify for the book, Mariemont Elementary's 435 students will have accomplished another, more remarkable feat.

The new and gently used bandanas are being donated to the Touched by Cancer Youth Day Camp, sponsored by the Northern Kentucky Unit of the American Cancer Society and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, for use by cancer patients who have lost their hair from radiation and chemotherapy.

"We wanted to come up with something to tie in with the theme of our carnival, and also give students hands-on involvement in a project where they could help other children," said parent Barbara Jane England, co-chairman of the school carnival.

England said response from both the school and business community in Mariemont was overwhelming.

"Some people donated bandanas from races they were in, others from their childhood," England said.

Principal Sandra Sommer donated the bandana she was given as a participant several years ago in Cincinnati's first "Race for the Cure" against breast cancer.

"It was hard to give up," Sommer said. "But it will add to the selection of bandanas for children battling cancer during that sensitive time," Sommer said.

If you go

Touched by Cancer Youth Day Camp will be held 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. June 25 at President's Park in Edgewood.

The free event is open to 6- to 12-year-old cancer patients, cancer survivors or other Greater Cincinnati children who have relatives or family members with cancer. All children who attend the camp are asked to wear a bandana, so those who truly need to wear one don't feel left out. For information, call (800) ACS-2345.

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