But organizing is becoming increasingly difficult. Costs are rising, rules are becoming stricter and risks are increasing. “We don’t have a large multi-million dollar company behind us, we fund everything ourselves. It’s balancing on a thin line. And if something really happens, we have a big problem.”
The limited number of new volunteers also plays a role in the decision to stop.
What makes Pitfest special, according to Vugteveen, are the people. “When I walk to the front from the backstage, it takes me half an hour. Everyone wants to have a boxing or a chat.”
According to him, that is also the reason why visitors keep coming back. “People see that there is love and soul in it. We call it the Pitfest family.”
That family doesn’t disappear immediately. Next year there will be one last edition, but smaller. “We’re going back to basics. A pub in Barger-Oosterveld, with a few great bands and two days of partying.”
With room for approximately three hundred visitors, it will be a lot more intimate than the current design. “It will be a kind of golden ticket, from Willy Wonka. Anyone who is there is lucky. We will stop with a bang,” says Vugteveen. “As long as visitors walk around with a smile because of what we have created, we are satisfied.”