Cute princesses, cool snowboarders, princes lager and painted clowns. Between 30,000 and 40,000 carnival lovers went to Prinsenbeek for the large parade on Sunday afternoon. The superlative applies here: most beautiful, biggest and nicest. It is a resounding success, also far beyond the provincial borders.
“You have to see, it is just rows,” a man with a huge Indian tournament on the head says to his female companion, who has hoisted himself into a tight green sequin dress. And that is an understatement. The small village will be flooded this sun -drenched on Sunday with carnival lovers. They all look for a place along the route where the parade will pass by. Some have put some chairs in their front garden, be added to the party.
Of course there are many residents of Prinsenbeek, but the large crowd walks over the viaduct from Breda, where huge parking areas have been set up for all those tens of thousands of festive noses.
The procession of Boemeldonck is a phenomenon that extends far beyond the borders of Brabant. Whether it is Haarlem, Lunteren or Abcoude, everywhere they have heard of those meter -high floats that will spontaneously open your mouth, the rainbow colors, the hempapa and casual atmosphere. This is the nose of the salmon, the Rolls Royce of the Carnival Caravan, many say.
The Tanis family has a journey of about one hundred kilometers from Vlissingen. Mother Joke (69) was born and raised in Prinsenbeek and walked into the parade as a little girl herself. “I once sat on top of the car as a pirate,” she says laughing. Almost forty years ago she exchanged Brabant off the coastal town, but Boemeldonck still has a warm place in her heart. Every year the family returns to enjoy the big parade.
“We went to Breda in the last two years, but that is nothing compared to here,” says son Jeroen. “The cars here have an unprecedented beauty. My wife and I want to give our two children what we have grown up with, what carnival is and what it’s like to be Brabanter.”
The 76-year-old Guust from Zundert is waving frantically on a roundabout in the village as a traffic controller, in order to safely accompany the long stream of cars, cyclists and pedestrians. “It’s just a madhouse here,” he says. “But I understand that crowds, because the cars are beautiful and the cosiness is unique. Guust also controls the traffic in other parades in larger cities, but according to him there is more aggressiveness.” This is just enjoying. “
Roel (68) and Sylvia (62) from Delft are in Prinsenbeek for the first time. “Our son and daughter have been watching here for a few years, and they are so wildly enthusiastic that we also want to experience it.” In Delft they also have a parade, but according to the couple, it is not possible to match Brabant at all. “It’s small, there is far too much advertising and at the end of the procession the sweeper drives as standard, because every confettis nipper must be cleared up immediately,” says Roel.
Dré was born and raised in Prinsenbeek and drives his bike in front of the procession to see if everything can pass through the streets safely. “Our parade is well known,” he says. “This is the day of the year that people know how to find Boemeldonck and enjoy what we have all worked hard on for months. And that it is appreciated in this way, that’s great.”
He knows exactly why Boemeldonck is so unprecedentedly popular. “The quality of the cars, the movements and technology behind them, that’s the nose of the salmon. Everything is now computer -controlled, they can make the entire car move the entire car so to speak. A technique is behind that, we couldn’t have dreamed of that ten years ago.”
According to Dré, it seems as if the interest increases every year, and the crowds too. “There comes a time when we get a problem with our own success, but for the time being it is still manageable. It is pleasant, atmospheric and on his Brabant. Everyone is welcome.”
Nine so-called A-cars rode this year, sometimes as many as eleven meters high and thirty-five meters, and people are also called ‘castles on wheels’. Furthermore, there were five slightly less large B cars and countless playful acts by groups, duos and individuals.
