Rio aan de Rijn

I suppose the way to go about this blog would be to post nice, neat, orderly blogs, sorted by date. However that would mean a lot of back-blogging, trying to go through the thousands of photo's I have of Arnhem. A different approach seems in order, so I'll start with last Saturday and move back and forth, depending on my mood.


I guess one of the reasons I love where I live is the energy the city has. It's not a huge city, only 120.000 or so people living here. Nijmegen which is 15-20 minutes away by train has more. But the past few years have seen a change in attitude here. It feels different somehow. I wonder if the festivals and events that take place here are a contributing factor. I think they are. The Arnhem Fashion Biennale, the World Living Statues, the Harley Davidson Day, Free Your Mind Festival and Rio aan de Rijn are just of few of many events that take place in town. It adds more to what makes it fun to live here. And offers the perfect opportunity to take a few snaps with my camera.


Last saturday we had the Rio aan de Rijn Festival (Rio at the Rhine). Three whole days of Summer Carnaval, Latin American exhuberence and salsa beats with a parade through town on the last day. Bright, brash and colourful. Groups from all over the Netherlands taking part in a spectacle of colour and fun. And it just gets better and better with every year.


Hopefully we can hold onto it. It was announced that it was getting more difficult to organise. And that they need more volunteers to help out. Should I offer my services? I'd hate to see so much fun being lost to the city. At the moment it's run by volunteers and I assume with the aid of a (semi)professional event manager. And it does have a certain spontinaity and lack of slickness that is endearing. But I think it also needs to grow and become more professional. Mind you that conclusion is entirely based on the awards ceremony that took place around 16.00 hrs last Saturday. Thats where the event lost some of its cohesion. Winners weren't there to accept their prize, neither were their representatives.


The parade itself was sheer joy for onlookers and radiant participants. Smiles, great costumes, vibrant colours, entertainment for all who patiently waited for the event to start (it started half an hour later than announced). And did I mention it's really hard to not start dancing when the rhythm bands march by!


Surprisingly enough it started out as a joke here in Arnhem, if I'm not mistaken about 3-4 years ago. I think I saw there very first parade which was a few cars, a salsa band and a small group of people dressed up in carnaval costumes. A year later it had grown and carnaval groups that take part in the Summer Carnaval in Rotterdam joined the parade. I must go there next year, I'd love to see that festival! From the site I gather it has over 2000 people taking part with around a million people (give or take 100.000) people looking on!



I hope someday our Summer Carnaval will attract that number of visitors and that it will go from strength to strength adding its colours to Arnhem.