Mien Verpaalen from Zundert is 102, but she still beams from ear to ear when she sees the flower parade. She took part in the very first Corso van Zundert in 1936. She now lives in Bergen op Zoom and can no longer go there herself, but now enjoys the images on television.
“Do you remember what kind of car you took part in?”, our reporter wants to know, but her audience knows a little bit. With her beautiful age come the ‘small inconveniences’, but Mien usually knows what to do with them.
Her son Guust is sitting next to her to shout my question again loudly in her ear. “I don’t remember,” Mien replies calmly.
For this occasion, the Stichting Bloemencorso Zundert has looked up some photos of the first years that Mien and her hamlet participated in the flower parade. When she sees the first photo, Mien really revives. Suddenly she remembers and starts to tell me cheerfully.
“The first corso was still on the bike,” says Mien. In the morning they went to pick dahlias from the farmer to decorate the bicycle nicely.
“The parade is always so beautiful! Lots of people… and a party on Monday!”, she smiles mischievously. When she hears that our reporter has never seen the parade in real life, Mien reacts with surprise: “Well then you really should do that.” And that will certainly happen this year.
The Corso van Zundert is on Sunday 4 September and starts at 1.20 pm. The colorful procession can be followed live on Omroep Brabant television, site, app and Facebook.