Hawaii is no stranger to Guinness World Records, including the tallest mountain, the largest collection of surfboards and the largest spam musubi. ADVERTISING Hawaii is no stranger to Guinness World Records, including the tallest mountain, the largest collection of surfboards
Hawaii is no stranger to Guinness World Records, including the tallest mountain, the largest collection of surfboards and the largest spam musubi.
And soon, the Aloha State might attain the record for the largest collection of sunglasses.
Waimea resident Betty Webster owns enough shades to wear a different pair every day for more than three years. She has nearly 1,300 — in all shapes and sizes and for every occasion — from beer mugs and butterflies to dollar signs and giant eyelashes.
Her goal in wearing them, sometimes five different pairs in a day, is simple.
“It’s to put a smile on people’s faces,” she said.
Webster’s over-the-top collection, which takes the majority of the space in her home, is in the process of being confirmed by Guinness as the largest in the world, and local community members are being asked to help the 85-year-old bring home the record by having their picture taken wearing one of her sunnies.
Leading that effort is Amaury Saint-Gilles, president of the Waimea Arts Council. When he learned Guinness wanted to include Webster’s collection, he volunteered WAC and everyone in the North Kohala area as volunteers.
To prove she does in fact have more than 1,200, Guinness asked Webster to take a picture of each one and number it. Instead of boring photographs of sunglasses sitting on a desk, however, Saint-Gilles decided it would be fun to include the community.
“We’re asking everybody — not anybody, everybody — and their dogs, if they’re big enough,” he said.
To participate, people are asked to stop by the Firehouse Gallery in Waimea between today and March 29. The gallery is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily and located directly opposite the Chevron station in Waimea’s Historic Corner.
Saint-Gilles said he met Webster in the bakery section of KTA Super Store and quickly learned about how she spreads joy around the community. He described her as a character — humorous and sweet.
“You always look at her and you just smile,” he said. “Here’s this very elegant woman walking around with these crazy, crazy sunglasses.”
To Saint-Gilles’ knowledge, Webster would be the first person from the Big Island to make it in the “Book of World Records.”
Webster’s started her collection in 1999 while working as a greeter at the Bay Club in Waikoloa. That year, the resort ordered glow-in-the-dark New Year’s Eve glasses for staff and customers.
Every year since, the collection has grown. Webster said she chooses glasses to match her outfit each day. She only wears muumuus and has more than 300 of them.
To keep people guessing, Webster often carries several pairs of glasses and switches them out at the first sign someone is interested in them. During her restaurant days, when someone would ask if she had just switched pairs, she’d politely say, “No,” and ask whether the person’s drink was too strong, or if they’d had too much.
Ultimately, it’s her way of keeping life fun and light.
“People from all over that come to the island here, they just love it,” she said. “And they keep in touch.”
Some have even sent her new pairs to add to the boxes already cluttering her home.
For more information about the upcoming photo shoots, call Firehouse Gallery at 887-1052.
Email Chris D’Angelo at cdangelo@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
