Conversion on the ring road. Step by step hundreds of people shuffle through the tight passage along the music stage on the A10 ring road in Amsterdam Zuid. “This is a bit drowsy,” says a teenager on sneakers in a white T-shirt: “If people are drunk, this is super dangerous.”
The 750th anniversary of Amsterdam is celebrated on the Ringweg around the city on this Saturday with a large festival next to different exits. There is enough space, and what could be a better symbol for connection than a ring road, according to the municipality. From ten in the morning to eleven o’clock in the evening, sports, married, eaten, danced and drunk. But is that justified on a day when the temperatures rise above thirty degrees?
The party starts slowly. Just after Tienen, workmen and women in yellow and orange vests put the finishing touches on the structure of the site. Cables are laid, toilets inspected, men on bicycles and in carts cross the driveway.
Stroll a little, a little bit
It is almost as if you are on a market or a fair with too hot weather: strolling a bit, chatting, sniffing somewhere and complaining about the heat. “Hot, isn’t it happy when I can go home like that.” Many families with young children, teenagers, people in their twenties, thirties, in their forties and less fifties and older.
A few minutes before ten, Wesley (27) walks tightly in a suit with a butterfly bow and below that boxes and his partner Regina (28) learn the ring road. In a car, the duo is taken to an improvised altar: white folding chairs, artificial flower packages. The Zuidas offices appear on the right, the business heart of Amsterdam.
Partygoers help each other the A10.
Olivier Middendorp
Regina is a “classic bride” says Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, who marries the two. Wesley is a “unique” boy. Together they are an adventurous couple, according to Halsema. When Regina’s father told her years ago about the car -free Sunday of the 1970s, his daughter said she would like to roll on the highway. “And now you’re getting married there,” says the mayor. “Hey, that’s Halsema,” says a man who walks past the stage. When they have given the yes, applause sounds. Whistle. Shout. Metro fifty rods along and honkes.
That forest is really such a GroenLinks idea
Halsema is not afraid that the ring road party will end up at chaos or a fiasco due to the high temperatures. Meteorologists warned in recent days that the temperatures on the asphalt would run up to forty degrees through the heat. Halsema tells the same story to camera crews and journalists: many precautions have been taken. The running match has been shortened from 7.5 kilometers to just four. “Two people briefly visited the first aid post due to light heat complaints,” the municipality of Amsterdam writes in a press release. “They are in order again.”
The music is’ softer ”, says Halsema – what exactly is the effect of that last measure, she does not explain. It was also decided not to forgive thirty thousand cards that were left. In total more than 250,000 cards have been given away. Moreover, there is scaled up in medical staff, says “there are extra first aiders present”. How many? I don’t know, she says, and looks at her spokesperson. “I don’t know either.”
Party on the Ring A10 in Amsterdam on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the city. Here on the South Ring.
Photo Olivier Middendorp
“That forest is really such a GroenLinks idea,” says Laurens Middendorp. It points to the 750 trees that are pontifically on the highway in large pots. They offer some cooling to the visitors. The idea behind the ‘forest’ is that the trees are planted elsewhere in Amsterdam after the festival and the city then becomes greener.
King -day vibes
Satisfied Evert Sodoc (63) observes the crowd from the shadow that slowly passes by. Sodoc has worked in the festival world for ten years – “structure and production”. He sees: lots of security, lots of toilets and an easy audience: many families with young children. “Many people were skeptical in advance that things would go wrong,” he says. “The atmosphere is very friendly.”
But that atmosphere can later, if more alcohol is involved, also just turn, says Wouter Schmitz (55). With his wife, Ingeborg (49) and son Ewout (18) he sits next to the music podum. “Then you get from those King’s Day vibes.” Ingeborg Schmitz: “I am afraid that people will fall over.” Ewout: “There are plenty of people who also come to drink.”
A few hours later, a drunken man is pulled away on the western part of the ring road by two security men. His girlfriend hits him in the face. “That was the only incident so far,” says the security guard: “If they drink with this warmth, things can go wrong.”