Omrop Fryslân
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In cooperation with
Omrop Fryslân
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NOS News•yesterday, 17:54•Amended yesterday, 22:18
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Under ideal weather conditions, the Netherlands will run out for a number of major events this weekend. Harlingen receives tens of thousands of people who come to view historic sailing ships. The organization estimates that the Zwarte Cross pop and motocross festival attracts 220,000 visitors. And in Nijmegen, the Vierdaagsefeesten started this afternoon with more than 1,100 performances on forty stages.
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“It’s nice and busy”, noted Omrop Fryslan at the beginning of the afternoon. In Harlingen, about forty historic sailing ships have been moored at the quay since Thursday. Piece by piece participants in the first tall ships race since corona. The large sailing ships are manned for six weeks by young people – volunteers – and sail from finish to finish. During Sail Harlingen this weekend they will explain sailing on enormous three-masters that are sometimes more than a century old.
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But it is not only the ships that attract attention. There is at least as much interest in the rescue company KNRM, which gives demonstrations and recruits donors en passant.
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Omrop Fryslân
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Sail Harlingen will last until tomorrow, after which the ships will sail out of the Frisian town in a Sail Out. The next Sail in the Netherlands will be in Den Helder in 2023.
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Black Cross
In Lichtenvoorde in the Achterhoek, there will be a Zwarte Cross (pop festival and motocross) again this weekend for the first time since 2019.
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Yesterday we made this video about the second day of Zwarte Cross:
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Motorcycles, music and of course Aunt Rikie at Zwarte Cross
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One of the crowd pullers at the 24th edition today was Joke Meijer (73) from Vlaardingen, better known (from the internet) as Orgel Joke. Together with a horn session she brought the audience into ecstasy. It was her first performance at a festival.
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A visitor’s marriage proposal, on the cross track in the middle of the crowd, also made an impression on the Zwarte Cross. The man had a paraglider deliver a ring, reports Broadcasting Gelderland. He then got on his knees and asked the woman he has been dating for six years to marry him. She said yes.
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Broadcasting Gelderland
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And then Nijmegen and the surrounding area will be running out for the first Four Days Marches since 2019. Because even though the world’s most famous Four Days Marches only start early on Tuesday morning, there is already partying. On dozens of stages throughout the city, bands have been performing since noon. classical ensembles and comedians. And that goes on for a week.
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This year, the Vierdaagsefeesten will be under a new director, Joris Bouwmeister. He has had years to practice as he was appointed in early 2020, just before the first lockdown. At the kick-off this afternoon, Bouwmeister showed pride in the fact that the parties are celebrated “as environmentally friendly as possible”. “The energy is almost entirely locally generated green electricity. With the exception of a few places where that is not yet possible. There we work with batteries that are charged with sustainable electricity, or with biodiesel generators,” he says. Broadcasting Gelderland.
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Bouwmeister: “For the first time, there are a number of circular toilet facilities and a circular cup system to reduce the amount of waste. This means that we fish the cups out again for recycling. That saves mountains of waste. We also ask our visitors by bike or public transport.”
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Heat
In the meantime, the organization of the Nijmegen Four Days Marches is looking at the weather forecast from hour to hour. Temperatures above 35 degrees are expected on Tuesday. The mayor of Nijmegen Bruls said this afternoon that it is up to the organization of the Four Days Marches to decide what to do next. “In the past they have shown that they can make excellent decisions,” said Bruls. “In that respect, the events of 2006, however tragic, have really stimulated the organization – just like the walkers – to prepare very well.”
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In 2006, the organizing committee canceled the Four Days Marches after one day. At the time, two hikers died and many runners became unwell after the temperature rose to 32 degrees.
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Carlo Roskam
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