GUELPH - More than 1,500 people have signed up to take part in what may go down as the largest snowball fight in the city's history.

On Monday at exactly 2:30 p.m., the University of Guelph's Johnston Green is to be transformed into a battlefield with hundreds, potentially thousands, of students launching snowballs at each other.

On Friday afternoon, a Facebook event page called UofG Snowball fight World Record Challenge had 3,522 people invited as guests. Of those guests, 1,600 had accepted the invite.

"Let's throw the biggest snowball fight in Guelph history on Johnston Green," the event description reads.

Brenda Whiteside, associate vice-president of student affairs, said the university was aware of the event and is working with the organizers to help everything run smoothly.

"When we see these types of events forming that aren't likely to be shut down very easily, we start to work with the organizers," she said.

Working with the university, organizers have posted several rules to help keep the event safe. These include fairly standard snowball fight guidelines, including no throwing rocks, no physical violence, only throw snowballs at people who are playing and only hit them below the neck.

Whiteside said on Wednesday students held a practice run with several hundred people. The event on Monday is expected to be much larger.

Campus police and school administration will be present to monitor the situation.

"If it does start to get unsafe, we'll be prepared to respond," she said, but added organizers have been good about spreading the message of safety.

Guelph students are familiar with these types of impromptu events, spread through social media. Whiteside said there have been numerous flash mobs and other co-ordinated dances in the past, but this the first time the U of G has had an organized snowball fight.

Part of the motivation behind the event is school pride, she said. The massive snowball fight on campus is a phenomenon that has been spreading from university to university in recent weeks. The University of Toronto had one just last week. Guelph students are aiming to host an even larger one.

Whiteside is happy to hear snow is expected in the forecast over the weekend. New snow is softer and less likely to cause injuries when thrown.

Students have been posting photos of Wednesday's snowball fight on the Facebook site and seem to be looking forward to Monday's event.

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If the University of Guelph hopes to set a world record, they'll have to bring out more than 5,834 participants to Monday's event. The Guinness world record is held by Seattle Snow Day and was set in January 2013.

Attempts made to speak to the organizers of the event were unsuccessful.