A really big letter to Santa

(Photo by Scot Grassette)

"Elves" wrote people's names and Christmas wishes on the giant sheet of paper.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

What may be the world’s largest letter ever is on its way from Rumford, Maine, to Santa Claus’s home in North Pole, Alaska, said Scot Grassette, who organized the letter-writing project.

Grassette’s goal was to send the largest single-page letter ever written and get recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. The letter-writing event Saturday at the Mountain Valley High School gym was also a benefit that raised about $4,000 for his daughter’s majorette squad.

The piece of paper was 131 feet long and more than 23 feet wide. A total of about 495 names and corresponding Christmas wishes were painted in large letters on the paper -- so many that the “elves” doing the painting had to flip the paper over and continue for 26 feet on the other side. The letter, folded up, weighed over 62 pounds and was mailed Monday with the help of 288 first-class stamps, Grassette said.

“The day was really, really nice. The kids that were there were just in awe, just seeing a piece of paper that big all in one piece,” said Grassette, an electrician in the local NewPage Corp. paper mill who got his company to donate the paper.

By far the most popular wish was for world peace, Grassette, 42, said. Other people wished for cars and trucks.

But 250 people have been recently temporarily laid off from the mill and, in a sign of the times, some of the people -- there was no age limit on who could put a wish on the letter -- wished that they could be spared the layoffs.

“I kind of knew exactly where they were coming from because, like I said, I’m getting laid off myself and that would be a good Christmas present, not to get laid off,” said Grassette, who expects to return to work in several weeks.

Tony Lyons, a spokesman for the mill, said the company was happy to help out with the fund-raiser. He said the layoffs, which were necessary because of the tough economic times, would last from Dec. 8 through Jan. 2.

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