It seems like a domino effect when Groothuis explains. The festival has been organized for fifteen years and it has since grown into an event that is no longer indispensable in the north of the city. For many it really heralds the summer.
Talents from the neighborhood
Neighborhoods often appear on the stages and recently also upcoming talents of music and culture school ‘Hart’. With often a good dose of sun, snacks and drinks, the neighborhood meets each other on the last Saturday of June.
Groothuis was at the helm of a large group of volunteers for years, but recently he no longer lives in the neighborhood and wanted to transfer the baton this year. “But with the transfer, the application that we should have already made in the fall was shot in.”
Surface services shortage by NATO
Normally that is not a problem according to Mayor Jos Wienen, he told the city council last night. Because politics also thinks the neighborhood party of great value. The action party wanted to know whether the NATO summit in The Hague had an influence on this, as De Ronde did.
That appears to be partly correct: elsewhere in Haarlem-Noord, a different event is being held on Saturday 28 June and Wienen cannot use extra emergency services for Summer in the Zaanen due to the upscaling for the NATO summit in The Hague.
Summer in the Zaanen
“The fact that it cannot go ahead this year is calling a lot in the neighborhood,” says Groothuis. It is even called in an app group to keep as an alternative ‘Zomáre in the Zaanen’, by coming together with picnic rugs and a guitar on Saturday.
“We now see that it is very much appreciated and it also makes it immediately clear how much organization is needed for the festival. I also really hope that new volunteers will report to roll up their sleeves for the 2026 edition.” Groothuis hopes that the ‘reset of the festival’ is lucky in an accident.