1/5 Bas Noorden at the head of Lady Justice
520,000 flowers. Dried flowers, fresh flowers, white flowers, red flowers. They are all pinned to the car the day before the flower parade. That calm before the storm is perhaps the most exciting day of all preparation days, because then everything comes together. So we went for a peek.
With a bouncy castle in front of the door and sing-along hits through the speakers, it is a bustling scene in the Buurtschap Helpt Elkander tent. Chairman Bas Noorden flutters a bit in between. Putting out fires, picking flowers, making coffee, you name it.
“Here you see the beginning of Lady Justice’s scales”, he points from the top riser in the tent. There is not yet a real scale in it, but that is due to the construction of scaffolding that surrounds it. “That will come as soon as the car is allowed to go outside,” explains the chairman.
“It’s always exciting to drive out.”
They are right on schedule. There is no reason to panic in that regard. “But finishing is always exciting,” admits the chairman. Whether the car suits the tent well, what the overall picture will look like and what the colors will look like in daylight: it’s all still a question mark.
The theme of the hamlet is ‘broken’. There is a lot going on in the world, they think. “Allocations affair, rumblings in politics…”, Noorden explains. “Lady Justice has a hard time with it. You will also see that she has suffered some cracks from it, or even falls apart.”
They blindfolded her with bay leaves and reeds. With red and white flowers, her face is made of marble.
“If everything is in place tomorrow and the car comes out of the tent properly, then that will continue to be a huge kick.”
Meanwhile, pressure is being stabbed and prodded in the tent. At picnic tables, a nail is stuck in the flowers, after which they are pinned one by one on the wagon. Monks work, which will continue until the wee hours. “But if everything is there tomorrow and the car comes out of the tent properly, then that will continue to be a huge kick.”
Would you like to admire the final result of Lady Justice? Which can! On Sunday afternoon, the flower parade will be broadcast live from half past one. On Omroep Brabant television, Brabant+ and at Omroep Brabant on Facebook.