They Wobbled. But did this group of 300 people in Des Moines break a world record?

Participants from across the Des Moines metro gathered at the Water Works Park Amphitheater Saturday in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest group Wobble dance. 

Upbeat music and laughter cut through the windy Iowa day as participants lined up to get a wristband, button and T-shirt before heading to the dance floor.

The Isiserettes Drill and Drum Corps, a Des Moines area dance group, led the crowd in practice rounds of the Wobble before the official record attempt at 1 p.m. The hit song "Wobble" blasted from the amphitheater's speakers as the jovial crowd danced, including Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie and Fire Chief John TeKippe.

With just shy of 300 participants, the group failed to break the current Wobble world record of 2,241 participants dancing in Cincinnati, Ohio's Washington Park in 2014.

I'll Make Me a World in Iowa, the organization that holds Iowa’s African American Festival during Black History Month each year, hosted the record-breaking attempt. Despite falling short of the record, the group's executive director, Betty Andrews, considered the event a success.

"We wanted to break the record, but we knew that was impossible with the number," Andrews said. "But we had a great turnout. Not only was I happy, what really made me feel good was when everyone just got up and started dancing. Working together and dancing together and moving together, that was the point."

Tanisha Butts, who has been volunteering with her husband Terrance Butts at IMMAWII since 2000, said that bringing the community together is one of the organization's central goals.

"Des Moines is growing and I like to see us doing a lot of things as a community," Tanisha Butts said. "It was great to see all the people come out and support the community today. That’s one of our main goals, to make whatever we do a community-focused event."

IMMAWII will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year by holding the first in-person I'll Make Me a World Festival since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

"A lot of the activities have grown bigger and bigger, and [Andrews is] getting more people involved than we’ve ever had before, and that makes it better," Terrance Butts said. "With COVID going on, we still had a lot of activities, which was great, but now that we’re able to get together and congregate again it’s really nice."

Andrews has been with the organization since its beginning, first as a volunteer and then as a chair before becoming executive director. In that time, she has seen the organization and its I'll Make Me a World Festival grow significantly,

"It has raised awareness about African American history," Andrews said. "[The festival] just allowed the community to come out, so over the years we’ve really grown. We started out very small, expecting about a hundred people, and we ended up with 300 that first year. Now our festival has several thousand people who attend."

Andrews hopes to continue building a sense of community through IMMAWII events in years to come.

"These are events that put the living in our lives," Andrews said. "That’s the point of this project, that connections matter. That’s where the value is, it’s in being able to connect and learn something new."

Grace Altenhofen is a news reporting intern for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at galtenhofen@registermedia.com or on Twitter @gracealtenhofen.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines group's Wobble dance falls short of Guinness World Record