Yes, it gets warm. The Netherlands can expect temperatures above thirty degrees on Saturday. That means: drinking enough water, lighting airy clothing and, like former Pinkpop boss Jan Smeets, the decades of paternal to ‘his’ audience said: ‘good lubrication’. That motto does not only apply to the music lovers on the lawns of Pinkpop in Landgraaf, where Saturday night pop star Olivia Rodrigo de headliner is.
Visitors are also recommended on Ringweg A10 in Amsterdam to take the heat into account. Here takes place on the Ring, a festival on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the capital. On a strip of fifteen kilometers long, which has been closed to all traffic since Friday evening, the temperature can amount to forty or fifty degrees. That is what Pieter Lubberts, director of the company that controls the logistics of the event, states Het Parool.
253,000 partygoers are expected throughout the day. With this, the event almost matches the Zwarte Cross, the largest festival in the Netherlands. Three questions about the Ring festival and the heat.
1. What is it happening?
From 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, the highway will be filled with performances from the Concertgebouw Orchestra to Smartlappenzangers, a running competition and twenty weddings. On Friday evening a forest with thousands of trees was put on the asphalt. In the night from Saturday to Sunday, tables for a dinner, various stages and so on are also built up. The A10 is subdivided into zones, free tickets for zone west and south are required. These are sold out. On the Bonnefooi only Zone East is accessible from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The idea for an anniversary party on the Ringweg was created ten years ago with a group of Amsterdammers. Sietse Bakker, program director of the anniversary year, mentioned the event earlier this week NRC An absolute challenge. “Every podium, every toilet block has been thought about.” To monitor the crowd, a company (LiveCrowd) has been engaged, and about “a thousand crew members”, including six hundred volunteers, have to steer everything in the right direction.
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2. What heat measures are there?
Running competition ‘Run on the Ring’ on the A10-Oost is shortened by half, from 7.5 kilometers to 3.75 kilometers. Participants have been informed about early starting times, since it is cooler in the morning. The Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema emphasized on Friday evening at AT5 that it is not so much a competition. “Don’t get too much out of it, but just enjoy walking in a place where you will never walk otherwise.”
There is also more points for drinking water and to rub in with sunscreen. In addition, ten first aid posts are provided where ice water is available. During the performances in the afternoon the music is built “at a quieter pace”.
Extra shadow spots, apart from the temporary forest, are not. “You can’t just hit a few tent poles in the asphalt,” Halsema tells city channel AT5. The mayor does an appeal to partygoers to think a bit. “Spread well, make sure you have a cap with you, wear flat shoes, dress lightly and drink enough water.”
3. Which roads are closed?
The A10 has been concluded between the A5 and A1 exits since Friday evening. The outer lanes remain open to emergency services and public transport. Regional traffic is diverted and the municipality warns against delay: the extra travel time can amount to more than an hour. A few metro and train stations near the festival site remain closed as a precaution. On Sundays is reduced and tidy. If everything goes according to plan, the Ring is free again for traffic from 3 p.m. on Sunday.
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