Exactly ten years ago today, Annen was proclaimed The nicest village in Drenthe. This happened during specially organized elections, in the hands of RTV Drenthe and Dagblad van het Noorden. Now, a decade later, the question arises: is Annen still proud of this title?
The village received more than 9000 votes in the Drenthe village battle. Westerbork came second and Ruinerwold finished third. A total of 62,000 votes were cast.
The price for Annen? The village won place name signs bearing them The nicest village in Drenthe, a cup and 1000 euros from the province. But the most important thing was of course: eternal fame.
Anneke Greving and Martin Kamping, who were active at Dorpsbelangen Annen at the time, decided to participate in the competition at the last minute. And that turned out to be a good thing for the Anneroeltjes. “It was just great,” Greving says proudly. “On the night we won, all emotions came out. We had done so well. And then comes the discharge of the many work we have done.”
The working group that set to work to collect votes was very keen on profit, Kamping says now. “We took a broad approach. Many associations in Annen were involved and it soon became broader.”
The village drew votes from everywhere. “We were in Gieten, in Rolde at the promotion match against VKW, we even stood at IKEA in Groningen to collect votes.”
View the report about The Nicest Village in Drenthe here.