This Friday evening, the audience is five rows deep along the lines of the Ons Nieuwe Erf sports club in Benthuizen, South Holland. And the stands are full. Mainly with men and boys, but there are also families with mothers and daughters. The firecrackers enter their arena with a burning torch in hand. “Yes! Look! They’re going onto the field,” says a man in his thirties to a friend. His voice rose with enthusiasm. “This really makes you feel like a baby,” the friend responds.
This weekend there will be fireworks shows in various places in the country. Sellers demonstrate their wares in the hope of selling more of them when the stores are allowed to open on December 29, 30 and 31. People enjoy it in Benthuizen, but there is also a minor key. It could well be that this is the last time that consumers are allowed to buy and set off this type of decorative fireworks.
Earlier this year the initiative law Safe New Year’s Eve of Members of Parliament Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks-PvdA) and Esther Ouwehand (PvdD). They argue that the way New Year’s Eve is celebrated in the Netherlands places too much of a burden on public order and the legal order, safety, public health and the environment.
Fireworks ban
GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, CDA, PvdD, VVD and ChristenUnie, among others, voted in favor of the fireworks ban for consumers, and PVV, JA21 and BBB voted against. The ban will take effect once a number of conditions have been introduced, such as compensation for the fireworks industry and a police enforcement plan. After the ban is introduced, shows will still be allowed to be organized, but requirements will be imposed that, according to the industry, are difficult to achieve in practice.
“The Netherlands is not getting any nicer,” says Erik Pos, the entrepreneur who made this show possible. Another tradition that is being taken away from us; That is the tenor of this evening, which feels like a farewell.
A voice crackles through the microphone. “We start with Wait for it. A cake for 13.95 euros.” Lemon yellow and purple stars twinkle in the sky. Pfrrrt. In recent years, decorative fireworks like this have become less noisy. Less banging, more “pfrrrt”.
The tension builds, just like the price. A little later we look at Multi Color Madness, for 399.50. From an online description: “A whirlwind of colors! 172 shots of pure splendor!”
Oooh. Ahhh. Appreciation rises from the crowd, which is otherwise remarkably quiet.
Enchanting fireworks
What is it about fireworks, why are they so enchanting? “People just think it’s beautiful,” says Erik Pos afterwards in the football canteen. “The last one,” says almost everyone who greets Erik Pos. “I think so,” he answers. Where will all these enthusiasts get the magic from when the ban comes into effect? Pos thinks that people will continue to light their fireworks in the coming years – ban or not. “They just buy it across the border. It will take generations before this tradition stops.”
In 2006, Pos started its own fireworks business because the only sales point in the village had to close due to stricter regulations after the fireworks disaster in Enschede (2000). Tonight’s show is twice as big as last year. Ten thousand euros is the retail value of all the fireworks that will go up in one hour tonight. “We have one hundred and twenty percent more orders than last year at this time.” One more time, that’s what people invest in. This year the fireworks industry expects a high yield.
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Pos calls the fireworks ban “ostrich policy” and that is how almost everyone here thinks about it. “This will not solve the problem of boys throwing illegal fireworks at emergency workers.” Other reasons given for the ban – the environment, the overburdening of the rule of law – do not outweigh the fun that fireworks bring, according to Pos. Before the show, he handed out flyers in the area so people with pets were prepared. “That was appreciated.”
In recent years, the fireworks ban for Pos has become the symbol for “all the fun” that the government wants to take away from its citizens. He mentions the fire pit and the wood stove as other examples – these are no longer allowed everywhere due to their impact on air quality. “We are moving towards a boring society in which a gray middle class determines what happens.”
Circular saw
Pos believes that it is impossible to remove all risk from a society and thinks that it is a political choice to focus on fireworks. “The circular saw is also dangerous, but it is still in the store,” says Pos. “And old people still ride their bikes.”
According to people in the industry, a fireworks ban could only be prevented under exceptional circumstances.
Photo Robin Utrecht/ANP
Last year, 1,162 people ended up at GP surgeries and emergency departments with injuries. That was 1,202 a year earlier. In the meantime, a cross-cut ban was introduced in more municipalities. In 55 percent of the cases, the injured person set off the fireworks themselves, in the remaining cases the victim was a bystander. More than a third of the victims are caused by illegal fireworks, an inventory by VeiligheidNL showed last year.
Erik Pos still has a glimmer of hope. “If we get a right-wing government, the ban may be postponed or taken off the table.” The question is whether suppliers will receive the fireworks in time for the New Year’s Eve from 2026 to 2027. “Normally they already order in November the year before.”
The football canteen is slowly emptying. “The last one, huh?” says a man on his way to the exit. Pos nods. “Luckily we still have the videos.”
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