Sid Carnegie never imagined that he would become world famous while he was out raking leaves.
But that's a strong possibility for the Park Manager of the aptly named Shady Maples Trailer Park. On Wednesday morning, Carnegie was outside the office doing some yard maintenance when he saw a large maple leaf "flutter" down from the sky and land right on the doorstep of the park's office.
"We couldn't believe our eyes," said Courtney Miehl, co-manager, who told Carnegie to bring the leaf inside.
"It landed right at my feet," Carnegie said as he reached for a measuring tape to prove why he thinks the leaf is the biggest in the world.
"We immediately looked up last year's record and knew that this leaf was a gift from the heavens!"
The gargantuan leaf, still wet and not yet opened completely flat, measures 21.25 inches (54 centimetres) wide and 23.25 inches (59.1 centimetres) long, including the stem.
Carnegie and Miehl will be applying to the Guinness World Book of Records to have their find assessed, but they already know they have left last year's record holder withering into second place.
In 2011, 10-year-old Eve Steel found a maple leaf while walking outside in the downtown Cambie Street area of Vancouver last fall. She took the record with her leaf measuring 17 inches (44 centimetres) wide and 23.2 inches (59 centimetres) long.
Dwarfed by the two finds in B.C., nine year old Joseph Donato of Pickering, Ontario raked in the title in 2010 with his 13 inch (34 centimetres) by 11.4 inch (29 centimetres) find. Carnegie said he is certain he will rustle up into first place with the world's largest ever, very "shady" maple leaf.
