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“It was not an easy decision,” says Bert Jan de Jonge of the organizing Burning Heart foundation. “We’ve had ten years and it was always a great success in which we grew to almost 10,000 visitors. But in recent years we also noticed that it was increasingly difficult to find volunteers and speakers.”
As far as De Jonge is concerned, they stop at the peak. “You also have to stay innovative and avoid doing the same thing for 15 years. We don’t want us to go back to 5,000, 3,000 and then eventually stop.”
According to the foundation, the goal that was once started has been amply achieved: “To offer the gospel of Jesus Christ without obligation and without barriers to everyone who wants to hear it.”
City walls for sale
The decor of the Sea of Galilee goes up for sale. “The palace wall, city walls, shepherd’s houses and boats are being sold,” says De Jonge. “We also have about 300 costumes, which we might rent out. Because as the Burning Heart foundation we are going to look at other things to organize and so we still have some income.”
De Jonge will therefore have the coming Ascension weekend off. “If the weather is nice, we will get the caravan out of the stable. After twelve years we will have a ‘normal’ Ascension weekend again. But it is a pity that it stops”, he expresses his mixed feelings. “I will especially miss the solidarity with about 300 volunteers to build things up in the weeks before. It was often said that the period in the run-up was even more beautiful than the evening itself.”
“The decision to stop after ten years is accompanied by an ambiguous feeling,” organizer Burning Heart reported on Facebook. “But we can gratefully state that this event has more than achieved its goal. To offer the gospel of Jesus Christ without obligation and without barriers to anyone who wants to hear it.”
Bicycle festival can’t get finances in order
Another crowd puller in the municipality of Hoogeveen also announced today that it would stop. The Bicycle Festival has called it quits after five editions. The event became known as Trappen, Happen en Stappen.