The
Gentse Feesten is a music and theatre festival in
the city of Ghent
(Belgium
).
Besides stage events there are random small street acts such as
mimickers,
buskers, etc. It starts on the Saturday before
July 21 (Belgium's national holiday) and
lasts ten days. The last day (always a Monday) is known as
De
dag van de lege portemonnees (
The day of the empty
wallets) alluding to the fact that many people have spent
their last penny at the festival, and is by the people of Ghent
seen as
their day while the stream of visitors from other
places ceases.
History
The first Gentse Feesten were held in 1843. The intensity of the
festivities changed throughout the years, sometimes very strong and
radiant (e.g. the 100-year anniversary was said to be very festive
and lively), but sometimes also very low-key.
The modern day Gentse Feesten were started in the summer of 1969 by
Ghent singer
Walter De Buck and the
people from the
Trefpunt cafe. In the
beginning the festival consisted of one stage near the
Saint Jacob Church, but from the
late eighties the festival has grown enormously and now covers the
whole inner city of Ghent.
Although the festival has become a mass event, it has retained some
of the rebellious and anarchistic atmosphere of the early days.
Public drunkenness is not entirely unseen.
Size
About 2 million visitors attend the festival every year, making it
one of the biggest cultural and popular festivals in Europe. The
number of unique visitors on top nights surpasses 250.000.
In a 2005
ranking by www.localfestivities.com, the Gentse Feesten was
called the third biggest city festival in Europe, only preceded by
the Fallas in Valencia
and the Oktoberfest
in Munich
.
Festivals within the Gentse Feesten
Polé Polé in 2004
Traditionally the shows at the festival have been free, but in the
later years a number of side festivals have chosen the period of
the Gentse Feesten to organize separate events.
References
External links