Detroit sets hopscotch record

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DETROIT, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A group of Detroiters set a record for the longest hopscotch course and got people thinking about their city, organizers said.

Some 30 people on Monday began painting about 22,000 chalk squares on the sidewalks of Detroit to set the record, the Detroit Free Press reported. The project, called Hopscotch Detroit, was finished Friday night and videotaped to send in for verification.

Hopscotch Detroit was organized by two groups called Wedge Detroit and Imagine Detroit Together to get people to think about the city beyond a stereotype.

"We were talking about Detroit and how much is going on here," Laura Willming, one of the organizers, said at a celebration Saturday. "It's not really reflected in the streets and what you see."

Parts of the course have washed away, but most of it is still visible.

"It's on the streets, people can play ... and it doesn't get in anybody's way," Willming said. "It's amazing how little we have to do, because it's intuitive for people to hop. It just reminds them to have fun."