Thousands of Smurfs take to the streets to try to break a world record in Brittany

Decorated shops, passers-by made up in blue: thousands of smurfs converged on Landerneau (Finistère) on Saturday March 25. Not to demonstrate against pension reform, nor against Papa Smurf, but for a new world record attempt, after the one that made the buzz in 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic. But the record ultimately narrowly escaped the small Breton town, which gathered just over 2,600 Smurfs in hostile weather, according to organizers.

“The rain cooled some people a little. But the most important thing is that we had a great time,” Jules Lesieur, co-president of the Landerneau carnival organizing association, told AFP. .

Bodies and faces painted blue, pants and caps white or red: smurfs, smurfettes or papa smurfs began to gather at the start of the afternoon in the small Breton town (16,000 inhabitants), 25 km east of east of Brest.

Many merchants have lent themselves to the game by decorating their windows with Smurf figurines, comics or stickers. “It’s nice, it’s a good atmosphere. Everyone loves it, it allows us to have a goal to have fun. These days, it’s not easy”, smiles Benoit Kermarec, 59 years old, owner of the bar-tabac Le Gavroche, dressed in a white cap and a blue T-shirt. With his clients, he has planned to put on make-up and go on a parade to the car park where the counting of participants is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

Break the record for the largest gathering of Smurfs

Officially, it is still the small German town of Lauchringen, on the German-Swiss border, which holds the world record for the largest gathering of Smurfs, with 2,762 participants on February 16, 2019.

A year later, on March 7, 2020, Landerneau had however broken this record by welcoming 3,549 Smurfs. But the feat had not been validated by the Guinness Book, due to a missing document, according to the organizers.

Before Germany, the previous record was held by Welsh students, who set it at 2,510 participants in 2009 in Swansea, according to the Guinness World Records website.