Haarlem flower and plant lovers can sleep peacefully in the near future, the lazy day market will continue for good. For a long time it was uncertain whether the market could continue. Now it has been announced that the traditional market will continue, although it will no longer be all night. “We’ll stop around 2 a.m. instead of continuing until the next morning.”
It must have been extra busy times for Ron van de Vall. He has been organizing the Haarlem lullaby market from the municipality for eighteen years. After being canceled twice by corona, this year it’s up or down for the nightly ‘potty market’.
“After the registrations of entrepreneurs did not come in, to say the least, I started calling everyone myself. I can now say that we have found enough entrepreneurs to organize the market. There will be flowers, pots and other flowers on both Raamvest and Raamsingel. are sold ‘green’, but we have had to adapt the tradition for that,” says van de Vall.
Oldest Sloth Market
The Haarlem Luilakmarkt on the Raamvest and Raamsingel has been around since 1890, making it the oldest known jar market. The flower and pot market starts the Friday evening before Pentecost and ends on Saturday morning. Yet it is not a Christian event.
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It is precisely those nighttime hours that are an obstacle for entrepreneurs on the market. Many of them work at a different market the following Saturday. “That’s why we chose not to go on all night and to stop at 2 a.m.,” explains Van de Vall.
Goodbye
The upcoming edition will be the last organized by Van de Vall. The 66-year-old market master is retiring after nineteen organized slack markets.
“It has become more difficult in recent years to find enough entrepreneurs and the two corona years have not helped either. We have to innovate,” says the Haarlem market master.
“We have to change traditions”
That is why it has been promised this year that two new entrepreneurs may enter the market. That in itself is not new, but that their proceeds go to a good cause (the food bank) is.
“I was approached by them and in the end we decided to admit the entrepreneurs,” continues Van de Vall. “Actually, that’s not quite the intention, but this year I condone it.”
farewell present
Van de Vall sees the market that takes place on June 3 as a parting gift. He does have a message for his successor.
“What you notice from the entrepreneurs is that only a few can afford to stand all night. It is too heavy. So we can and want to organize the slack market, also in the coming centuries, but then the tradition has to be somewhat changed. adjusted.”
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