The Farmer of Beilen is back

With Het Boertje van Beilen, a piece of history has been brought back to the village. It is a replica of a work of art that stood at the headquarters of De Boer Supermarkets in Beilen from 1980 to 2010.

The statue was unveiled this morning and has been placed near where the original once stood. It is a three-dimensional representation of the supermarket chain’s old logo.

In 2010, Super de Boer was taken over by Jumbo. There was no room for the artwork anymore and it ended up somewhere on the site of the distribution center. The Historical Association Beilen Foundation took care of Het Boertje in 2012. In consultation with Jumbo, the image was removed. The association made an attempt to restore it, but that was not possible due to wood rot. “In consultation with the municipality, a replica has therefore been made by artist Erik van der Leur from Assen,” says Jan Wessels of the Historical Association.

Actually, the image was supposed to be revealed two weeks ago, but that was postponed at the last minute. The statue has been there for the past few weeks, but was still covered with a large canvas.

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