Circus Okidoki in Meppel ends the year in a festive mood. The circus should leave the current training location on Prins Hendrikstraat on January 1. But where it would move to was unclear for months and time was running out. Now the decision has been made: Okidoki has a new home from today.
“A very nice end-of-year gift,” says founder and head coach Marie Tiggelman. “I actually didn’t dare to think about what it would mean if we couldn’t find a new location. It was really exciting.”
If it was not completed in time, the circus school still had a temporary option available. “Then we would have had to find storage for our stuff. And then we would have had to teach in a different place.”
But it didn’t have to come to this. The circus school received a tip via grapevine about a possible location. “We had put it out everywhere and asked for help with tips. Based on this tip, we contacted the real estate agent and everything turned out to click and the property was exactly what we needed.”
The problem with finding a new location mainly lies in the altitude meters that are important for the circus school. “We need space and height. A gymnasium would be suitable, but the problem was that we could not leave the things there. The number of students was also sometimes a problem. With 120 movements per week from children and parents who drop off and pick up Not everyone is happy with that, of course. That is sometimes a problem when you share a space together. Now we really have a place for ourselves.”
Today the circus gets the new key. “Then we will hang the aerial work in it, such as the canvases, the hoop and the trapeze, and a new floor will have to be laid. Then our things can be transferred and we can start the lessons on January 6.”
The fact that there is now a new place for the circus is ‘very nice for everyone’, says Tiggelman. “We can give Okidoki a home again.”