With only a few days to go until the Rodermarkt parade, the twelve construction groups are serious. The last few weeks are often a madhouse, with daily building sessions that sometimes last into the early hours of the night. In the Henk Halsema Hall, Lammert Kalfsbeek of Volksvermaken Roden sees that things are already making good progress: “There will be a high-quality Rodermarkt parade.”
How many hours exactly are in it? Martijn Huitema of construction group CBS De Hoeksteen prefers not to think about it, but does so on request. “Building takes place three evenings a week from 7 to 11. Then you have the people who are not busy in the shed, but at home or elsewhere. It takes quite a lot of work, that’s for sure. But it is also a beautiful way to meet people.”
At primary schools in the region it is customary for the parents of group 2 children to build together. “That takes some getting used to,” says Huitema. “But you soon find out about each other’s qualities. Then it actually runs smoothly.”
In addition to the schools, there are neighborhood associations and groups of friends that participate. Cre Active is one such group. Jacqueline Bolt has been building with the group for about seven years now. “But I think I’ve been participating for sixteen years in total.”
This year’s theme is ‘Freedom, Happiness’. Officially created in 2020, when the Netherlands should celebrate 75 years of freedom. Corona put a line through the Rodermarkt, but two years later the theme is maintained. “I think it is still a good theme now, so after corona,” says Lammert Kalfsbeek. “We are once again experiencing a bit of freedom.”
The wide range of the theme is apparent from the different designs. Where De Hoeksteen chooses ‘Finally on a journey’ and builds a control tower and tiki bar, Cre Active is working on a tank. “We wanted that before the war in Ukraine,” Bolt said. The construction group certainly has no bad intentions with it, as can be seen from the saying ‘Make love not war’ on the back of the tank.
The flowers are pricked the night before the parade. The dry summer gives little cause for hope for a good dahlia harvest, but Kalfsbeek looks at it positively. “We have often experienced a very dry period,” he says. “Then the buds come out badly or you have small flowers. But that was often solved by some rain at the end.”
There was enough rain last week, so there is no reason to be gloomy. “We just keep hope that it will be okay.”
Saturday the parade will pass through the Roner center again. This happens at 1 pm and at 7 pm.