The organizers of liberation parties in Drenthe are satisfied with how the festivals went. Despite the fact that the weather was a spoilsport on Liberation Day, visitors made their way en masse to the stages in Assen and Emmen.
According to the organization of the Liberation Festival Drenthe in Assen, about 40,000 people came to the Baggelhuizerplas. “We no longer expected that at three o’clock,” says organization chairman Gerrit Boes in Radio Drenthe program Cassata.
The Liberation Festival in Assen was halted mid-afternoon. Approaching thunderstorm threw a spanner in the works, the organization thought it irresponsible to have thousands of people on the open site. “The only thing you can’t control is the weather”, Boes looks back. Visitors were therefore asked to leave the site and return later in the afternoon.
A massive audience was indicated there, at half past five the gates opened again and the party could continue. Boes: “Before the storm we had 7,000 visitors, the rest was after that.” It is impossible to say exactly how many unique visitors there have been. “In the end it all ended perfectly. When the thunderstorm passes and the sun comes out and the terrain fills up again, you will be happy again.”
Singer Meau, Ambassador of Freedom, did not see her performance in Assen because of the thunderstorm. Because she also had to play at other Liberation Festivals, she could not perform in Assen after the resumption.
The chairman says he has not heard any discord. “Mostly positive feedback about the new layout of the site, the first aid has hardly had anything to do and security was also very pleased.”