The Rolddermarkt was opened tonight on the Grote Brink in Rolde. The brand new event On land, at sea and on the Brink provided a spectacular start to the village’s holiday.
The annual party, which comes from the traditional horse market, celebrates the 240th anniversary and includes new parts.
A group of eight new committee members thought that the opening evening could use a little more spectacle and so this time the Rolddermarkt starts with a wet suit for some.
Under the watchful eye of an estimated more than a thousand spectators, 28 participants ventured over a narrow beam towards the bell, at the end of a long water bowl. And not everyone succeeds.
The couple Kim and Kimberly clearly dresses like cows a shot at the originality prize. “I think it’s scary to walk upstairs,” says Kimberly when she looks through her fingers at the stage.
Yet a little later the duo is at the start, at the top of the ramp on their tandem decorated with flowers. “Are you ready for it?” Organizer Alex Suichies shouts in a microphone. “3, 2, 1, start!”
It will be a short drive: halfway through the track the cows shoot off the beam, straight into the water. Laughing and pousting, they come up again, while they get applause from the massively crowded audience.
“When I see this, I am really so proud,” says Margé Emmens, chairman of the organization of the Roldermarkt. “It’s great how many people there are and that we have such an event. It’s really alive!”
Rolde is full of activities in the coming days. There is a village breakfast, a all -around camp, a playback show and a big party evening.
Especially for the anniversary, there is another parade with floats for the first time in ten years, which are being built by the different neighborhoods of Rolde. On Saturday evening they parade through the village.
The Rolddermarkt lasts until Tuesday 9 September. Then the horse market is on the program.