The municipality of Coevorden has come up with an adapted plan for the festivities surrounding eighty years of freedom. The official program was initially planned for both Saturday April 5 and Sunday April 6 in the city center, but now only Saturday remains. “On Sundays there is still room for residents’ initiatives, for example.”
This is what municipal spokesperson Alieke Wijnholds says. Due to “capacity problems”, she said it has now been decided to hold the official part of the festivity on one day, Saturday. “That day is packed with activities, such as a commemoration at the Bentheimer Bridge, a parade with about seventy historic army vehicles, tours and music.” In the evening there is also an activity for the youth.
The decision has now been announced to the Coevorden Connected in Freedom working group. “It’s a shame, but we can live with it,” says Herman Woltersom. “We can accommodate almost all the activities we had planned on Saturday. We have been able to arrange three reunion orchestras and there will be a bagpipe band.”
The working group actually also wanted a tattoo in the city, but that did not work out. “Instead, the orchestras will perform together near Coevorden castle.”
There is disappointment with the Drenthe Liberty Tour, which has been making plans for an extensive tour of Drenthe for some time now. The tour starts in Coevorden. “This means that we have to move on Sundays,” says Sjoerd Looijenga. “We now have an alternative plan for that day, with visits to De Krim, Gramsbergen and Ane. It is a shame, especially because Coevorden was the first city in Drenthe to be liberated eighty years ago. The idea was to go all out here.”
According to municipal spokesperson Wijnholds, there remains plenty of room for festivities surrounding eighty years of freedom in Coevorden. “We are now limiting the official program to one day, but on other days there are still plenty of opportunities for initiatives from others. We have already received fourteen requests for different times in April and May.”
At the beginning of December it became somewhat unclear what the program would look like in the city center. Especially because part of the city center will soon be overhauled due to redevelopment plans for the market-port area. Wijnholds: “We have now arranged it in such a way that all planned activities can continue outside that area.”