Dozens of volunteers are busy on Saturday to build a beautiful Easter fire in a meadow on the Voorterdijk in Budel. “It may just be the last time,” sighs organizer Rens Cardinaal of Youth Clubs Budel when he looks at the pile of Christmas trees in the field. The Easter fires are under fire because they would emit too much nitrogen.
The battle between who can build the biggest fire is now a thing of the past. And that is quite disappointing for the enthusiastic volunteers in Budel. “First it was too dry, then there was too much wind and now we have to deal with nitrogen.”
The Easter fire is part of a mini-festival with tents, a bar, inflatables and firewood that will be set on fire on Saturday evening. This is the fifth time this year, but could also be the last. Rens is quite disappointed: “Everyone likes fire, don’t they. Me, too.”
“We are well below the maximum emissions.”
But that bonfire is not quite up to date anymore. By putting a few cubic meters of Christmas trees on fire, you emit quite a bit of nitrogen. More than with fireworks, for example.
That is why they have considerably reduced the fire on the Voorterdijk in Budel this year. “We were told our maximum emissions. We went a little further under that, just to be on the safe side,” says volunteer Joost Kuipers. They mainly want to hold a party for the village, he says. Whether or not there is a fire is secondary.
“The competition is less alive here, but it is the sport.”
“The competition that they have at the Easter fires in the east of the country is really less alive here,” says Joost. “But in the first instance that was of course the sport.”
The organization would therefore find it a pity if the Easter fire was extinguished for them, but it is also understandable. Rens: “It is an attraction, but not a tradition for us. Then we’ll just have to think of something else. More fireworks, for example.” Wait and see whether that is allowed.