Stay closed on New Year’s Day? That was not an option for Patrick Kooistra’s oliebollen stall, which was not allowed to open on Sundays in Feanwâlden. So the entire santen stall moved across the municipal border to Quatrebras.
The lights of the stall can be seen from afar and anyone who enters the AutoKoop site in Quatrebras will smell the oliebollen smell that is so typical of New Year’s Day. The cars that are normally sold on this site are largely hidden from view by the oliebollen stall. On this day no cars are sold here, but oliebollen, krentenbollen, apple turnovers and apple fritters.
On Friday evening before Christmas, the municipality of Tytsjerksteradiel received a permit to sell their goods in Quatrebras on Sundays, says Rinske Nieuwenhuis, who runs the stall with her husband Patrick. She is happy with the help she received from VVD municipal councilor Sjaak Hoekstra of Tytsjerksteradiel. On New Year’s Day he is one of the first to send her a text to wish her good luck.
Sunday rest
The story of the Kooistras begins in October when it becomes clear that the community of Dantumadiel is adhering to Sunday rest. Despite subsequent attempts by municipal politicians to change this on a one-off basis. The majority coalition remained steadfast and did not want to make an exception. This means that Kooistra’s stall, which has been at the Plus supermarket in Feanwâlden for ten years, and other oliebollen stalls in Dantumadiel are not allowed to open.
“But we are really not going to sit on the couch at home on New Year’s Day,” says Nieuwenhuis. “This is the day you do it all for. The best sales day of the two and a half months that we have been in Feanwâlden.” Nieuwenhuis does not comment on how much will be sold. When the relocated stall opens at 9 am, a good kilometer from the municipal border, it appears that the regular customers from Feanwâlden show solidarity. The first buyers almost all come from that village to get the delicacy from their trusted stall.
Carbide
“We knew it was good,” says Klara de Roos from Quatrebras, while the bag of oliebollen is steaming in her hands. She walked to the stall with her children. She lives a few meters away on Woudweg. “We experience this just because the cream is too close.” Normally the family also buys the batter from Kooistra, but then in Feanwâlden. “It’s quite funny that it hasn’t been resolved, but it’s a shame that it has to be the same.” De Roos points to the carbide blasts that can be heard from Feanwâlden. “Karbid sjitte mei wool and this net.”
That also bothers Nieuwenhuis and the fact that they are not allowed to open in Feanwâlden because they are seen as a shop, while the local snack bar is allowed to open. Almost all customers sympathize with her. Sjouke Reitsma from Feanwâlden is on his way to his father and makes a stopover. Every year he gets the bulbs in Feanwâlden. He calls the new location a good solution, but wherever the Kooistras had stood, he would have gotten the oliebollen there anyway. “Just out of solidarity.”
Nonsense
Mathilde Hommes from Feanwâlden also thinks so. “I am here to support them.” Normally she collects in her own village, but now she has hopped on her bike. “I also get my exercise.” She calls the whole issue surrounding Sunday sales “nonsense.” Wigle Westerlaan from Feanwâlden calls it “narrow-minded.” He has to go to work and takes a number of bags with him for his colleagues in Leeuwarden. Johannes Broekens from Feanwâlden says he “understands the fan.” It’s weird and now that it’s supposed to be.”
Yet the Kooistras had some customers at their regular location in Feanwâlden on Saturday who had already come to pick up the New Year’s Eve tradition because they did not want to buy on Sunday, says Nieuwenhuizen. In Quatrebras she now also expects customers who would not normally come. This becomes apparent when one of the first early birds arrives. Gosse Wijma and his son Marten from Hurdegaryp always bake themselves, but they don’t feel like it this year. Kooistra’s stall is a godsend. “Hast my own love.”
Barrel organ
Nieuwenhuis doesn’t know exactly what to expect. “It’s different than usual, but we are well prepared.” They were already in the stall at half past six so that baked items are ready, the ovens are warm and yeast, dough and pastry cream are ready. During the day they will be accompanied by the barrel organ sounds of Theun Zuiderveld from Feanwâlden. This self-built organ ‘De Drie Appelflokken’ comes from solidarity. “We hear the same sounds as at the fair,” says Kooistra, who is at the fair the other months of the year.
The entire move was initiated by Feanwâldsters Douwe Kootstra and Oege Hiddema. “They decided to explore the boundaries of the municipality and find an alternative as close as possible,” says Nieuwenhuis. This became the municipality of Tytsjerksteradiel in a location that is easily accessible to residents of Feanwâlden. The sale continues until 5 p.m. Then it becomes cleaning for the Kooistra family. “At the end of the day, the batter is up to the ceiling.” By 8 p.m. they will be ready and leave for their hometown of Leeuwarden to literally spend New Year’s Eve.
2023-12-31 13:00:00
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