China Lights will not return to the old zoo for the time being. The Chinese light sculpture festival may only be held with very soft music and the organization does not like that.
However, the initiators, former zoo director Henk Hiddingh and Jannet Westebring, do not want to give up the festival. They have high hopes for another place, which they cannot say more about than that it is covered and in the municipality of Emmen. For the following year, they raise their awareness among other municipalities.
“The love has to come from both sides,” says Hiddingh. “Constructive discussions could have taken place with the municipality much sooner. That did not work. At some point we have to make a decision.”
China Lights, which attracts 50,000 to 60,000 visitors annually, has so far always been held in the Rensenpark. Hiddingh has always been lyrical about the place: beautiful in the center, already equipped with a fence and toilets. Ready to move in, so to speak. “And I still think so.”
Couple complains about noise nuisance
But a couple living nearby complained to the municipality. The spouses experience nuisance from, among other things, the noise. The municipality agrees with them, after a recommendation from the objections committee. The permitted noise level, it is judged, is only acceptable for a maximum of 16 days. However, China Lights lasts three months, which means that, according to the municipality, there is no longer a good living and living environment for the complainants.
All in all, it means that China Lights can still be held, but with much softer music or only acoustic. Most of the time alcohol is also not allowed to be sold. The couple had pointed out that, according to current policy, the alcohol exemption should only have been issued for twelve days.
‘It would have been best with the covered areas’
Hiddingh: ,,That alcohol does not interest us that much. We only served mulled wine. If that is no longer allowed, then we will not do it. But acoustic music alone is not for our festival. And don’t give visitors a headset, as the municipality suggests. Then we have to give and take thousands of headphones.”
According to Hiddingh, it would have been quite possible to hold the festival in the Rensenpark if the organization had been allowed to use the covered areas there, such as Americasa. ,,Then we would have had an outdoor section, with only soft music near the objects, and an indoor section with louder music that you do not hear outside. Hopefully we can talk to the municipality again in the future, but in time. We need about eight months of preparation time.”