Four weeks before the start of carnival it rumbles firmly in Breda. The Kielegat Foundation is worried about the future. The continuing influx of partygoers from outside the city ensures that the fun with carnival is decreasing for more and more people from Breda. “Something has to be done,” says chairman Rutger Westenburg.
Mayor Depla saw the shower hanging last year. “You can wonder how big you can make the festival,” he said at the time after the announcement of the necessary safety measures. Carnival 2024 then went with two hundred thousand visitors fortunately without major incidents, but the dissatisfaction with the inhabitants of the city grows.
“Carnival exploded here after the Coronaper period,” says Rutger Westenburg, chairman of the Kielegat Foundation. “Unfortunately we get messages that the Kielgatters no longer feel comfortable in their own city with carnival. That is very annoying and that touches us. So something has to happen.”
“It is important for us that the Kielgatse carnival is for the Kielegatter.”
A major problem with this is the enormous influx of people from outside the city and especially from above the rivers. It partly ensures that the Breda carnival celebration cannot enter its own city center at peak times because of the crowds because it is closed. And if they do succeed, there is a good chance that they will end up on a outside square where a kind of house party is going on with young Randstadelingen who look squint of the self -taken drink.
That is somewhat charged, but the core of the problem and what is going on. That is why the Kielegat Foundation, which organizes the carnival, wants to change course. Carnival has to become a carnival again and then it naturally also works as a kind of discouragement policy.
“In recent years we have tried to make carnival safer and the next step is now to bring back the Kielegatse and Breda traditions,” says Westenburg. “For example, there will be a new sing-along event of Breda songs on Sunday and the city will color more red and orange.”
But the foundation mainly wants more carnival music to be heard on the squares in Breda. That there is also an old -fashioned host on the Hoempapa. A new attempt, because last year all entrepreneurs did not respond to that. “We have now drawn up a music practice for the DJs on the squares,” explains the chairman of the umbrella carnival club. “Occasionally there is quite an après-ski number in between, but especially we want real carnival music. The people who come for something else, such as house music, will automatically stay away. That needs time, because you don’t do this in an instant. “
“It is not possible to say that the train is not allowed to stop here.”
However, the question is whether this kind of soft measures prove to be sufficient to give the Bredanaar back to the carnival. The arrival of carnival tourists is facilitated on a large scale every year. The Dutch Railways smells its chances and brings thousands of partygoers from North and South Holland to Breda with extra long trains. And the city of Breda itself, which wants to be hospitable, makes room for extra parking spaces for the packed coaches for the same group. Perhaps it can be a little less.
“It is not possible to say that the train is not allowed to stop here,” says chairman Westenburg. “That is only possible for safety reasons. But we will certainly start that discussion with the municipality, because for us it is very important that the Kielgat carnival is for the Kielegatter. We are very busy with it behind the scenes, but this is also one The responsibility is not with us, but we do suffer from it. “
The municipality of Breda has been asked for a response, but has not responded to questions from Omroep Brabant so far.