Closer cooperation between Jaarbeurs and catering during Rodermarktfeestweek

The NoorderExpo (popularly still called the Jaarbeurs van het Noorden) and the catering industry in Roden will collaborate more closely during the Rodermarktfeestweek.

This is remarkable, since the music programs were not attuned to each other during previous editions. Now that that is the case, according to Lucas Schoonbeek (Jaarbeurs board), a larger audience can be reached. “We don’t have any Dutch-speaking artists on Sundays and Tuesdays on the forecourt of the Jaarbeurs. Then Het Wapen van Drenthe and Mo’s Café are already organizing something like this. Why should we compete with each other? We put bands against that.”

The Jaarbeurs itself already has more stands than during the last edition in 2019, reports Lucas Schoonbeek. Together with Willem Ensink, he is responsible for recruiting entrepreneurs. “I think we have a varied scholarship,” says Ensink, who applied as a recruiter three years ago ‘in a crazy mood’. “Personal contact is important to recruit stands. Calling and walking into the business is important.”

After two years of absence, it is sometimes difficult to prod entrepreneurs for the stock market. Ensink: “Take the construction sector, for example. Most construction companies have enough work and there are some that simply have too few staff to also be on the fair. Yet there are construction companies that rent a booth to see old customers again. “

Where Ensink has had the biggest bustle behind him, Schoonbeek is busy with a final sprint. “Madhouse,” he sighs. He has been responsible for the music at the Jaarbeurs site for years and two years of corona absence has not made it any easier. “Members of bands that we had already booked three years ago, for example, have found other jobs in the meantime. They suddenly no longer want to perform during the week.”

Still, Schoonbeek believes that it has a good program again. “Beautiful Wark, good DJs in the Dansfabriek and Vangrail, just to name a few. We offer something unique every night.”

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