The Oktoberfest at the Grote Rietplas in Emmen will have an adapted version for people with an intellectual disability. The first edition is aimed at 200 visitors. “But if we have to, we can lose 500 people.”
“It is a normal Oktoberfest with artists and the opening with the tapping of the barrel, but not with the crowds that are normally present,” says Laurens Meijer, center manager of Emmen and organizer of the party.
He had been walking around with the idea of making the German beer festival more inclusive for some time. “In the center of Emmen there is already the organization Club Onbeperkt, which organizes a club evening for people with a mental disability a few Thursdays a year, because a regular party is often too busy and produces too many stimuli,” he says. “So I thought, that’s fun to work with.”
A few weeks ago it turned out that it was a viable idea. About 2.5 thousand people attend the regular Oktoberfest, which means that there is hardly any possibility for wheelchairs to reach the stage, for example. This is different during the afternoon edition of the party. “The bar staff has been adapted, there are extra toilets for wheelchair users,” says Meijer.
On a normal Club Unlimited party evening, about 120 visitors come. Meijer hopes that at least 200 people will come in October.
On October 21, the modified Oktoberfest will be held from two to five in the afternoon, with the regular party starting at six. Meijer: “The intention is that we will continue this every year and that an edition like this will be organized every year prior to the regular Oktoberfest.”