French town breaks smurf number world record

PARIS

A small town in western France has set a world record for the greatest number of smurf-costumed people gathered in the same place, according to organizers, who counted over 3,000 this weekend.

Landerneau, population 16,000, on the far western tip of France's Britanny region, had tried twice before to wrest the record from Lauchringen, a town in Germany that managed to gather together a seemingly unassailable 2,762 smurfs in 2019.

But on May 17, the French challengers finally pulverized that record, assembling 3,076 people clad and face-painted in blue, wearing white hats and singing smurfy songs.

"We smurfed the record," said one participant.

Smurfs, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958 and called "Schtroumpfs" in French, are small, human-like creatures living in the forest.

The fun characters have turned into a major franchise that includes films, series, advertising, video games, theme parks and toys.

"A friend encouraged me to join and I thought: 'Why not?'," said Simone Pronost, 82, sipping a beer on the terrace of a cafe, dressed as a smurfette.

Landerneau mayor Patrick Leclerc, also in full smurf dress, said the effort "brings people together and gives them something else to think about than the times we're living in."

Pascal Soun, head of the association organizing the event, said the gathering "allows people to have fun and enter an imaginary world for a few hours."

In 2020, an initially successful bid with more than 3,500 smurfs was invalidated by Guinness World Records on a technicality because of a missing document.