Long traffic jams and frustrated local residents: Paaspop causes some traffic chaos in Schijndel every year. The festival itself wants to continue to grow and receive more visitors, but this is only possible if the organization first makes clear agreements with the municipality and the neighborhood. That is why the organization is now coming up with an extensive plan for the future: “We especially want to better tackle traffic problems around the site.”
The future plan is necessary to clearly regulate how Paaspop deals with the festival site, the campsite and parking. The festival organization presented the plan to the municipality of Meierijstad on Tuesday. The plan provides clarity about visitor numbers, site layout and reducing nuisance.
More visitors, but no extra nuisance
Paaspop director Chris Seijkens emphasizes that the festival remains true to its trusted formula. It remains a three-day event from Friday to Sunday, with a special businessday on Thursday. But the organization does hope that the event can grow in the coming years. “We want to increase the maximum visitor numbers to 40,000 per festival day, while it is currently 35,000,” Seijkens explains.
To achieve this, Paaspop will work on improved parking facilities and traffic flows around the site. This is an important condition from both the municipality and local residents. The Paaspop organization will have to decide in the near future what this should look like in concrete terms. She hopes to present the detailed plan in March 2025.
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The municipality has responded positively to the plan. “Paaspop shows that it takes sufficient account of what the neighborhood considers important. That gives confidence for the next steps,” says councilor Jan van Burgsteden.
Extra festival day?
In March, the two creators of Paaspop, Theo Ploegmakers and Peter Sanders, sat at the table in Omroep Brabant’s talk show KRAAK. The attentive reader knows that – when asked about the future – they hinted that Paaspop might last a day longer. The future plan hints that this extra day is not planned for now.
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Paaspop emphasizes that not too much will change for visitors in the near future. For example, the site and campsite remain the same size as the last two editions. With the new approach, Paaspop hopes to secure its future as a leading festival in Brabant and at the same time remain a good neighbor for Schijndel and the surrounding area.