1/8 Kaaise Mop Day 2024 (Photo: Omroep Brabant).
About thirty-five mop orchestras from the country came together on Sunday to play at the Kaaise Mop Day in Oosterhout. The question is whether the event will continue after this year, because Theo Poortvliet is stepping down as chairman after nineteen editions and there is no new one yet. “Surely someone else will step up?”
“It will be a long, but also fun day today,” musician Wesley Huisveld thought when he got out of bed on Sunday morning. He plays in one of the thirty-five mopping orchestras that were present at the Kaaise Mop Day. The event calls itself the optimal warm-up for the carnival, which starts in three weeks. This year the carnival chapels played at two outdoor locations and in the various pubs of Kraaidonk, as Oosterhout is called during carnival time.
But the future of the Kaaise Mop Day is at stake since chairman Theo Poortvliet announced that he was going to stop. “I don’t have time for it, but surely someone else will step up?” says Huisveld, smiling. “Such a beautiful day shouldn’t be wasted after all these years?”
Poortvliet himself said on Sunday that there are candidates to succeed him. But it is not yet certain that there will be a successor. “I am confident that things will work out. But it is exciting. The new chairman must have an affinity with carnival and be able to handle a management position.”
“There is enough support, but I can’t promise anything.”
Furthermore, Poortvliet says that it is not just a job. “We are talking about the Kaaise Mop Day, which has been around for thirty-nine years. I did it for nineteen years. My predecessor for twenty years. It’s a great party and it has enough support here in Oosterhout. But I can’t promise anything.”
According to former council member Wim Hendriks, a day like this should not cease to exist. “It just has to continue. There’s a lot going on in the world. Now let’s have a little fun here.”
“Playing in a mop orchestra is a unique way to celebrate carnival.”
It should be clear by August 1 whether there is a future for the festival. Wind musician Jeroen would be sad if it stopped. “Playing in an orchestra is a unique way of celebrating carnival. If I didn’t play an instrument, I don’t think I would even be there. They just have to make sure there is a new edition.”