Many Haarlem residents must have noticed: the well-known Bavo silhouettes are again hanging above the (shopping) streets of the historic center. These days the iconic lights are hung on the buildings with aerial platforms and that has been done for more than eighty years by a company from Haarlem.
The party lighting is paid for by entrepreneurs from the city center. For years they have provided the mood lights in the darkest days of the year. The current design with the ‘Bavo lights’ is already 15 years old. In addition to the streets, nowadays buildings and trees put in the spotlight.
This is how the party lighting is hung in place. Text continues below the video.
Festive lighting Botermarkt – NH News
The two men responsible for hanging the light decoration are Wesley Verzijlberg and Guy Timmers.
“I am the fourth generation in the family business Timmers elektro- en illuminatie”, says 39-year-old Timmers. “My great-grandfather once started the business and my grandfather, who lived in the Grote Houtstraat, was the first to start party decorations in his street after the war.”
Text continues below the photo.
Party decorations Grote Houtstraat
Wesely Verzijlberg and Guy Timmers
A lot has changed in recent decades and, according to Timmers, there are now more than 250 luminous silhouettes hanging through the city.
“We take about three weeks to hang everything up and we start at the beginning of October. Sometimes we get reactions like: ‘Are you already starting with those Christmas decorations?’ We understand that, it’s like October, but once it hangs and it burns, everyone is happy again,” says Timmers.
New lights
This year, for the first time, the trees along the Spaarne, from roughly the Damstraat to the Verfrollerbrug, will also be illuminated. There will also be a light route (read more about this in the box at the bottom of this article).
energy crisis
But is all this possible in these times of energy crisis and austerity? According to Hildo Makkes van der Deijl of BIZ Binnenstad Haarlem, the collective on behalf of the more than 1,100 entrepreneurs from the city center that is responsible for the party lighting, it is not that bad. For example, energy-efficient LED lighting is used and they have a green energy supplier.
“Power consumption is minimal”
In addition, the lights only turn on when the lampposts are also turned on, and they turn off again around midnight. This is in contrast to some other cities, where the lights come on in the afternoon and stay on until late at night.
“They also provide safety and cosiness,” emphasizes Van der Deijl. “Power consumption is minimal.”
Perfect hanging
It will take Verzijlberg and Timmers another two weeks to ‘hang everything perfectly straight.’ When Haarlem is finished, it’s the turn of other cities. “But the best thing is to be busy here in your own city,” laughs Verzijlberg. “We are real Haarlemmers ourselves and we make people happy. It’s always a party.”
Haarlem lights up: Wandering with stories
At the initiative of the entrepreneurs in the city centre, there will be a light route this year, consisting of six Haarlem legends that will be brought to life in the form of illuminated figures with accompanying stories. The figures will be scattered throughout the city from the beginning of December.
Kenau Simonsdatter Hasselaer will be the narrator, who will guide you through the stories of, among others, a giant, a dragon and a mermaid. Visitors can follow the route from start to finish, but the stories are separate from each other. It concerns old Haarlem legends that have been brought back to life in the present.