Hours toil on questions about the history of the village, maths and puzzles. A few years ago, village quizzes gained considerable popularity. Now some village quizzes are stopping. Why is it that more and more village quizzes are having a hard time?
The Bergse Kwis in Berghem started eighteen years ago as one of the first in Brabant. In its heyday, 140 teams devoted themselves enthusiastically to puzzles and assignments. But in recent years, the number of participants has fallen sharply.
“Organizing a quiz like this takes a lot of time”
“We cannot deny that we have fewer and fewer registrations since corona,” admits chairman Joeri van de Ven. In 2022, only forty teams registered for the Bergse Quiz.
In Lith, the number of registrations fell so sharply that the last quiz was held last year. “We organize a lot of activities,” says Wendy van Rossum of the Lithse Kwis. “They are more popular and above all take much less time to arrange.”
“People would rather travel than quizzes”
The organization of such a village quiz takes about ten months on average. “The declining number of participants demotivates the organizers. And then they say: ‘Well, then we’d rather go away for a weekend or week ourselves’.”
The Bergse Kwis also takes place during the holidays. Joeri expects that corona caused people to spend their holidays in a different way. “In the past, they really stayed home for the quiz. Now we notice that people have a great need to travel. Many people are on winter sports during the quiz.”
“Even with fewer participants, it’s worth it”
Although there are fewer registrations for all quizzes in Brabant, the need is not equally high everywhere. The organization of Deurne Wittut is satisfied with their 70 participating teams and De Dongense Dorps Quiz cannot complain either.
“Yes, in the heyday we had twice as many registrations,” admits Dongense chairman Peter van der Maade. “But still about 2000 to 2500 people participate.” According to him, this halving is because corona has changed the world: “People have acquired other interests.”
But that doesn’t make it any less worth it. “It still brings the village together at a time when there is less to experience,” says Peter. Even for Joeri, despite the reduced number of participants, stopping is not an option. “We were the first in Brabant. I don’t want this tradition to be lost,” he says. “Even with fewer participants, it’s more than worth it.”
