New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island’s ongoing lobster-roll battle has a new champion after the world’s longest lobster roll was assembled at the 68th annual Shediac Lobster Festival.

Sixty volunteers spent an entire day filling the 180.2-foot-long bun with 120 pounds of lobster, bringing the cost of the delicacy to $5,000.

“It’s a full day of just cooking the bread and then they have to mix the lobster with the ingredients and then stuff it just before we open, because you don’t want the bread to get soggy,” says executive co-ordinator Tammy Brideau.

The roll is large enough to reclaim the world record in a battle that has spanned several years and two countries, with Prince Edward Island and Shediac at the forefront.

“Our first lobster roll was 72 feet, our second was 85 feet, and that was beaten by P.E.I.,” says festival director Gilles Brine. “Then we beat them at 106 feet, they beat us at 122, then we hear this place in New Hampshire comes up with 159 feet.”

Organizers were planning on a 150-foot-long lobster roll in honour of Canada 150, but used extra dough to go for the gold.

While the massive roll puts Shediac back at the top of the shellfish heap, it also puts competitors at a significant disadvantage. Over the past few years, the rolls have grown bigger than basketball courts, and organizers are running out of buildings long enough to contain them.

“The hockey rink is 190 feet long, so I don't know how they're going to do it,” says Brine.

While the record-setting roll is a highlight, Brine and Brideau are now focusing on the festival's other attractions, like lobster-themed microbrewery and wine tastings, a carnival and daily lobster eating contests.

“We get calls from BC, we get calls from France, everywhere around the world,” says Brideau. “They plan their vacations in January to come here and to this festival, so it's getting bigger and bigger.”

More than 30,000 people are expected to flood the popular beach town by the time the festival wraps up on Sunday with a grand finale of 1,000 lobsters served up for supper.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Cami Kepke.