Liberation Day: Bevrijdingsfestival Wageningen

 This past Monday (May 5^th) was liberation day in the Netherlands. This is the day that the Netherlands was liberated from Nazi Germany at the end of World War II. I thought this might be an interesting day to participate in since the Netherlands was liberated largely by the First Canadian Army, which included the British I corps and the 1^st Polish Armored Division. There are many festivals held this day around the Netherlands but we chose to go to the festival in the small town of Wageningen. This is the town that the German troops capitulated in 1945. Due to its important history, the festival in this town  is attended by around 100,000 people each year.

We started the day early in order to catch the first band, a favourite of Burak’s: Amsterdam Klezmer Band. The day was already starting to get warm, with the sun beating down (something we’re now missing in Tilburg) After the concert we bought some lunch and found the nearest park to sit down and eat. Once we were relaxed it proved hard to get up again but after a while we went to explore more of the concerts. We heard a gypsy/dub step concert (can’t say I’m a fan).

 

At 4pm there was a parade in the middle of the town. The parade consisted of many veterans and planes flying low overhead. People cheered as they passed by waving the flags of their countries.  At 7:30 we headed over to see Town of Saints (the reason we stayed so late) This is the band that we saw in Tilburg in April, one of Laura’s favorites. I’ve also come to love this band so it was great to get a second chance to see them. They’re always very interactive with the crowd, coming right off the stage and dancing with us. All in all it was a great day (even with my slight sunburn)