Well, not, well and in the end not. Barry Gepken, the driving force behind the Easter fire on Erica, has been thoroughly thrown in in recent months. Yesterday the canvas seems to have fallen for the Easter fire, Erica is not one of the four locations in the municipality of Emmen where the Easter fire can go through.
“We knew it was playing with the drought, but the message yesterday was disappointment,” says Gepken. According to him, the municipality could have waited a little longer with this final decision. “Find it very early now to decide this.”
According to the organizer, for example, the municipality could first have announced a building stop, so that there would be a final decision next week. “Rain was coming? And we can even do the Easter fire a week after Easter, around King’s Day.”
One of the reasons that the Easter fire on Erica cannot take place is because there is a house with a thatched roof near the bump. According to the guidelines, the fire may not reach that thatched roof closer than a thousand meters. “But the piece of land on which the Easter fire is on is not big enough. It is not possible on that piece of land.”
De Bult has increased considerably in size in recent days, even though people in Erica have less time than normal for the structure. “Normally we already start building a month in advance, but because it was now unclear for a long time the fire would be, we started a little later.” But there was no lack of firewood. “We had a nice fire with the wood that is now there.”
Gepken was told yesterday from the municipality that they are taking on the task of removing the Easter hump. “But I hope they do ours last,” says Gepken. “In case something would change next week.”
Gepken does not consider the chance that the municipality will run again when it comes to the Easter fire on Erica. “But I still try to convince them tomorrow. We don’t let us box and just continue until Easter is.”