“Our village festival has a huge bond,” says Marc Oortwijn of the 100 Years of Witteveen Jubilee Committee. These types of parties are under pressure due to increasing regulations, which is why the National Association for Small Towns (LVKK) is sounding the alarm.
The partnership conducted a national survey on local events, such as small village fetes, parades and local festivals. No fewer than 79 percent of organizers experience municipal rules as obstructive.
According to Maarten Koreman of the LVKK, organizations in Drenthe mainly struggle with regulatory pressure, finding volunteers and financing. Oortwijn also recognizes this problem.
Every five years a village festival is organized in his village Witteveen. Next year the village will be 100 years old, and that should of course be celebrated in a big way. “The party is a big deal, and there is a lot of organization involved. Nowadays you have to justify every step you take to the municipality.”
Nowadays, crowd barriers must meet all kinds of requirements, such as being able to be properly connected to each other so that no openings arise. “We were previously able to borrow 40 of those fences from the municipality, but now 20 of them have not been approved,” says Oortwijn. This means that the organization now has to arrange some of the fences itself.
“We are practical. There are local residents who have fences, and normally we would just use them. But due to the stricter requirements, that is no longer possible.”
And that entails additional costs. “This costs about 300 euros extra, and that is a lot of money for a small village like Witteveen.”
The use of plastic cups also incurs additional costs. “If you use disposable cups, you have to demonstrate that 80 percent is recycled. For this we need special containers. We used to just throw them in the container at someone’s home, but that is no longer allowed.”
The organization has been raising money for more than two and a half years to make the village festival possible. For example, a crowdfunding campaign has been set up and an annual deposit campaign is held.
“The crowdfunding has so far raised almost 4,000 euros, and the deposit campaign yields about 1,000 euros every year. We also have sponsors, but without them and the fundraising campaigns it is impossible to organize the village festival every five years.”
Despite the regulatory pressure, Oortwijn remains committed to the organization. “The village festival is important for our village, because it connects people. Organizing it should be fun, but due to increasingly strict regulations, I can imagine that the next generation no longer enjoys doing it.”