Brittany. Why 2,763 Smurfs are expected this Saturday in Landerneau

They're going to make some noise in Landerneau! Several thousand Smurfs - at least 2,763 to be precise - are expected to arrive in the small Breton town near Brest on Saturday for a world record attempt at gathering the little blue characters.

This is the third time in five years that the city will attempt to beat this unusual record , which is the subject of fierce international competition.

For the occasion, the city's mayor, Patrick Leclerc, will dress up as a Smurf, as he did in the two previous attempts. And on Wednesday, he signed a decree banning the sale of Smurf drinks in the city's bars, Saturday from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., the scheduled time of the event.

"Last time, some Smurfs stayed at the bar for a drink," the mayor laments. "This decree also applies to Grumpy Smurf," he states in Article 2 of this municipal decree.

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

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.

In March 2020, Landerneau broke this record by welcoming 3,549 Smurfs , but the feat was not validated by the Guinness Book of Records due to a missing document, according to the organizers.

Repeated in March 2023, the attempt failed again due to terrible weather: 231 Smurfs were missing. "This time, everyone needs to be mobilized for the count," said the mayor. No nasty surprises to be expected from the weather: the sky is (also) forecast to be blue!

"We were contacted by Paramount, which will be releasing The Smurfs Movie on July 16th in theaters," explained Pascal Soun, president of the Pays Landerneau Daoulas animations association , to the Côté Brest website .

"They handle relations with Guinness World Records, national and probably international communications, and we organize and publicize the event locally. We let ourselves be convinced, just to put an end to this record once and for all and bring it back to Landerneau," smiles the president.