Merritt families are preparing for the city’s first ever Great Cloth Diaper Change taking place at the local legion on April 26.

The event was started by a children’s store owner in California, and in its four years, has expanded to over 300 sites in 20 countries.

This year, the goal is to break last year’s Guinness World record-setting 8,031 babies changed at the events.

It’s now put on in partnership with the San Diego-based non-profit Real Diaper Association, and the local event is brought to Merritt by Kamloops-based online cloth diaper retailer Kristie McComb.

McComb said she got into the eco-friendly baby product market in Brockville, Ont. while cloth diapering her own daughter.

McComb has organized past events in Brockville, but upon relocating to Kamloops last summer, found there was already a Great Cloth Diaper Change event in Kamloops and so she decided to establish one in Merritt.

“I was kind of familiar with Merritt and there was nothing, and I know there are people there who use cloth diapers, so we thought we’d reach out and try and build some community there,” McComb said.

McComb said the misconceptions about cloth diapering include that it’s smellier and more complicated than using disposables.

“They’re much easier to use than anyone imagines until they actually try it,” she said, adding they have environmental benefits as well as cost savings.

The event takes place in the same week as Earth Day.

McComb will also be at Merritt Moms at noon on Wednesday to speak about cloth diapering.

Anyone who wants to participate can still join in right up until the event or participate without registering.

Guinness requires a minimum of 25 babies changed per site to qualify for the record, but McComb is hopeful the Merritt event will build up to that in coming years.

“It does take a while to spread the word, but there are quite a few people who’ve never used cloth before, so that’s exciting,” she said.

She also said helping break the record isn’t the only goal of the event, which she described as a “big play-date” with a potluck lunch, family and baby portraits and door prizes.

“It’s an opportunity to get out and meet new parents,” she said.

The event takes place at the legion on Quilchena Avenue between 9:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. this Saturday.