Brabant has a new museum richer and that is museum De Karkooi in Rijsbergen. “We opened last week after years of preparation,” says Jack Mouws. “The museum is the successor to the Boerendag in Rijsbergen, which we were forced to stop. The first Boerendag was held in 1977 and the last in 2019. We will continue as a museum.”
The past corona pandemic and too few volunteers to be able to organize the Farmer’s Day Rijsbergen are the reason to stop the popular Farmer’s Day Rijsbergen. “We held more than forty Farmers’ Days,” says Riet Hereijgers of the organization.
“In its peak years, the one-day event easily attracted 15,000 visitors. The Farmer’s Day was held for the first time during the last and 25th breeding day in 1977. The nostalgic farmer’s event was so popular that it continued until 2019. However, we had to decide to pull the plug.”
“You go back in time here.”
The decades that the Farmer’s Day Rijsbergen was held also provided the organization with an immense amount of stuff, from historic agricultural tools, dog carts to everyday clogs. They have ‘all’ been given a place in the new museum. “We want to show farm life here, which will certainly ensure recognition among the seniors, but we also want to let the youth get acquainted with how people worked and lived,” says Riet Hereijgers. “You go back in time here.”
“They ask if it is of any use to us.”
The historical collection of the Boerendag, now a (farmers) museum, has grown considerably in recent years with tangible donations. “Due to the death of people, relatives sometimes do not know what to do with the (historical) collection of grandfather or father. They then ask whether it is of any use to us,” says Riet. “That way you get partial collections that can indirectly be an addition to the museum.”
The name of the museum, De Karkooi, seems a bit strange at first, but Jos van Rijckevorsel has the explanation. “De Karkooi is a barn and the carts used to be in that barn. For example, the cart with which the (rich) farming family went to church. A car cage has been recreated in the museum and there are also beautiful carts in it.”
“Under that box bed is a drawer for the under-the-shift.”
Every museum, large or small, has a masterpiece. This is no different in the De Karkooi museum. “We have recreated a fully furnished farm, with an upstairs room, a beautiful room, the kitchen and a stable,” says Jack Mouws. “Of course there is also a box bed with a drawer under the box bed for the child that has been pushed down, the smallest one had to sleep there.”
Museum De Karkooi is a small and new museum where the farm life of the past is central. Because the museum runs on volunteers, it is (still) limited open.
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