Schoorl girl market no longer as usual: “Became too massive”

Those who are not familiar with the phenomenon of ‘girl market’ may think that it is a place where you can buy a girl, but this is not the case. The famous climbing dune is all about flirting and decorating, and that always happened on Whit Monday without being organised.

Young people from Noord-Holland Noord gathered on that day in Schoorl. And countless loves have arisen on the dune. At least, that’s how it was in the last century. Nowadays it looks more like a booze and in recent years the climbing dune has remained very empty.

Middle Ages

Schoorlaar Joop Muelink (86) is interested in the history of his village. Among other things, he wrote a book about the houses in the dune village, but he also delved into the story behind the girls’ market: a tradition that can be traced back to the Middle Ages.

“The girls’ market has changed a lot. In the past there was no drinking, but in recent years an awful lot.” Joop also found a poem from 1573, the year of Alkmaar Ontzet, which talks about the girls and the dune.

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“The tradition arises because young people meet here,” explains Joop Muelink. “At that time, young people from the neighborhood worked under annual contracts that ran from Pentecost to Pentecost. You then worked seven days a week and this was one of the few days off.”

girls from outside

“They went to the climbing dune, a place that was already loved and known at the time, to make contacts. For new work, but also for love. The weather was often good and the place is of course very beautiful. It was a success then. become.”

Joop himself went to the girls’ market in the 1950s. “It was nice because you also met girls from outside the village. I even met people from Andijk there. In the years that followed, the girls’ market became even bigger. “People come from Amsterdam and the Zaanstreek. They are dropped off in vans, and when there’s too much to drink, you know.”

Demise

The cozy unofficial party is therefore increasingly turning into a drink and drug fest, with serious blows at the end. The municipality wants more supervision and in 2014 it will even become a organized eventwhere the climbing dune is fenced off.

That turned out to be a one-time failure. “It looked like a funeral,” says a former catering entrepreneur. A year later, being together is freely accessible again, but things get out of hand when aid workers are being harassed†

Fire brigade pelted

The fire brigade wants to extinguish a campfire that is too close to the edge of the forest, but are pelted with bottles during their work. The municipality intervenes and comes up with rules and commandments for the girls’ market, and puts a camera at the foot of the dune. After 2015, it attracted few people and the girls’ market is only a shadow of its past.

“It used to be green and red here from the well-known beer brands. It was very cosy,” says a former visitor to NH Nieuws about more recent times. According to her, it was also possible to party with people next to the climbing dune in the garden.

Tap in the garden

“We paid 25 guilders and were then allowed in and there was a tap in the garden.” She regrets that almost nothing is left of the tradition. “If it comes back, I’ll definitely go there and take my daughters with me,” she says cheerfully.

Whether the girls’ market will ever regain any of its former glory is questionable. “It became too busy, too massive,” says Joop Muelink. “It has gone under.” It also didn’t help that it became known that way. “We should have tried to keep it between us.”