The last missing place name sign of the Frisian village of Haskerhorne has been found somewhere outside Moerdijk. With the previous action of exchanging the signs, a Frisian New Year’s Eve association wanted to poke fun at the possible disappearance of Moerdijk. But when it was time to return the plates, one suddenly appeared to have disappeared.
It should have been a fun New Year’s stunt by the Frisian New Year’s Eve association Geitefok De Wiite Sik: changing the signs to draw attention to the possible disappearance of Moerdijk.
New Year’s Eve associations are an important tradition in the Northern Province. “Every year we pull off a stunt around New Year’s Eve,” the association’s chairman Evert van der Wiel previously told Omroep Brabant.
“We want to make a beautiful statement every year, to give excitement to something that we find important,” he said. “When we heard the news this year that Moerdijk will probably disappear to make way for industry, it touched us deeply. We wanted to encourage the residents.”
Hang back
In the middle of the night, a group of twelve Frisians went to the Brabant village to take the plates. At dawn Moerdijk suddenly turned out to be in the municipality of Fryske Marren. The idea was that the signs would be neatly put back on January 5, but that turned out slightly differently.
The signs and associated banners, with the message behind the stunt, were taken away twice. The official exchange, in which the plates would be exchanged back, was planned for January 5, but the Frisian plates were stolen before then.
Gone again
After a call from Bianca on Facebook, they hung back. Due to snowfall, the exchange on January 5 was canceled and was rescheduled. But then another sign disappeared. As a precaution, Bianca unscrewed the other plate preventively, to prevent worse.
Moerdijk resident Bianca was at a loss. “It really doesn’t make sense. The local residents think the same as me: why again?” she said after the second theft.
After the plate exchange, one plate is still missing. The frustration at both the New Year’s Eve association and Bianca was enormous. “If they do not get this sign back, the Frisians will have to have a new one made and pay for it themselves,” she writes. “That would really put a damper on their New Year’s stunt.” Making a new sign can easily cost 600 euros.
Found
But the sign was found on Tuesday evening. Mathijs Koevoets from Zevenbergen found the lost blue plate when he drove along the Blokdijk, the road that runs parallel to the A17. The sign was on the side of the road. “It’s been quite a journey from the other side of the village,” Bianca laughs. “I think someone must have regretted it.” On Facebook, Mathijs poses smiling with his find.”
“We are all happy, of course, also because Goat Breeding White Sik doesn’t have to arrange anything ourselves,” she says. “They came on Saturday to pick up the signs, so it’s a shame. But we invited the group to come by during carnival to pick up the signs.”
It remains to be seen whether the Frisians can wait that long. Ultimately, the Frisian stunt ends with a fizzle, and perhaps even with a cold beer.
Read all the stories about the disappearance of Moerdijk here.