Residents of Irapuato, Guanajuato, almost broke the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest jar of strawberry jam, but their hopes were dashed when the giant container began to leak just as they were putting the lid on it.

The event began around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, when over 70 people got to work making large batches of jam. As per the rules, organizers had decided on one recipe chosen from five contenders.

With hopes of surpassing the current record of 559 kilograms held by Michoacán, event staff began filling the giant jar around 1:00 p.m. Everything was going smoothly until around 5:30, the time for the official weigh-in.

But as they moved to place the lid on the jar, jam began to leak out a crack that opened in the side of the container. As the jam was still hot when they placed it in the jar, it had cracked the glass.

Jam began to spill all over the grounds of the main square and event staff immediately covered the crack with plastic wrap and began to salvage what was left of the contents.

Official Guinness World Records judge Susana Reyes said that Irapuato was on its way to the top, but just barely missed it.

“They broke the record. Unfortunately the conditions of the jar caused the jam to leak out, and that’s when we began to see the guidelines being breached,” she said.

However, Irapuato isn’t down for the count. Event organizer Alex Cortés said that they will try again next week.

With the record, the town hopes to solidify its claim to being the “World Capital of Strawberries” in the domestic and international markets.

Sources: El Sol de Irapuato (sp), El Universal (sp)