If you only see heads in the crowd, the city is too full

Two Vikings attack each other with plastic swords on the square in front of Oeteldonk station – the name of Den Bosch during carnival. At the Kees Kroket chip shop, two women are having brunch with a large special fries. To the right around the corner, a little further down the Snellestraat, a growing crowd of revelers are drinking the first beers of the day.

Everything is closely monitored in the Oeteldonk command center with about fifty cameras throughout the city. The municipality, police, enforcement and first aid gather in the otherwise silent city office on Saturday afternoon for the first briefing of the day.

From that time on, the parties will meet every two hours to discuss the state of affairs. What happened in the last two hours? What do they expect for the next two hours? The command center is operational 21 hours a day, from 8:00 am to 5:00 am. A total of about three hundred people are on duty in the city: police, security guards, emergency services.

All to manage the enormous crowds.

And what about the real Oeteldonkers?

Because it is busy in Oeteldonk these days. Suzan van Iersel, carnival project leader of the municipality of Den Bosch, dressed in a traditional Oeteldonk farmer's smock, expects around 400,000 people throughout the week. “It is still difficult to say exactly how many there will be per day.”

Last year the crowds were so great that the municipality called on people to stop coming to the city on Carnival Sunday, the day the prince is welcomed with great display at the station. There were 70,000 revelers there at the time. With the kick-off of the carnival season on November 11 ('the eleventh of the eleventh'), 100,000 people came to the city center. For comparison: Den Bosch has a total of about 160,000 inhabitants.

These are figures that are keeping people busy in Oeteldonk. Because is there still room for the real Oeteldonkers? Isn't the folk festival succumbing to its own popularity?

Understandable concerns, says Van Iersel. “There are places in the city where you really can no longer go with small children at certain times.” It is a challenge to guarantee safety, especially in the narrow streets in the medieval center of Den Bosch with a high catering density – the Korte Putstraat, the Snellestraat, the Uilenburg.

cordon off areas

As an event coordinator at the municipality of Den Bosch, Joran van Geffen is in close contact with the police and enforcement. He also sees that it has become increasingly busy in Oeteldonk in recent years.

“We don't have hard figures, but we have to cordon off more areas every year because it becomes too busy,” says Van Geffen. “That is an important indicator for us.” And also the most effective way to stop the crowds, although the municipality is not a fan of it. “We would prefer to welcome as many people as possible.”

The municipality uses LED screens to let party goers know where it is too busy. Streets can be closed off with security guards and crowd barriers if necessary. The command center has short lines with public transport services. “If it really gets too busy, they can call on surrounding stations and bus stops to stop coming to Den Bosch.”

When does busy become too busy? “We mainly look at whether we still see flow on the camera images,” says Van Geffen. “And whether we can still see people's shoulders. If you only see heads, then it is generally too busy.” If in doubt, the command center will send a guard to determine whether the situation is still acceptable or contact the catering industry on site.

Increasingly an event

Ron de Leuw (57) from Den Bosch doesn't think it's getting any more fun with this crowd. “Nowadays I'm happy if I can order a beer somewhere.” He has seen carnival increasingly turning into an event in recent years, its popular character diminishing.

After ten o'clock in the evening it becomes a kind of festival for the youth here

More and more people from the surrounding villages are moving to the city for carnival, especially young people. And that changes the dynamics, De Leuw notes. More après-ski music and techno, less carnival music. And more drugs. “After ten o'clock in the evening it becomes a kind of festival for the youth here.”

'Carnival import'

And then there is the tricky point of 'carnival import': people from above the rivers who come – often for one day – to celebrate carnival. Oeteldonk, in the north of the south, is a popular destination. But also in Kielegat (Breda) thousands of revelers from the west are dropped off by coaches every day.

Event coordinator Van Geffen indeed sees that more and more people from other areas come to Oeteldonk during carnival. And that doesn't have to be a problem, he emphasizes. “As long as they pay attention to the way in which the carnival is celebrated here.”

Because the municipality cannot check this, catering entrepreneurs actively try to prevent 'import'. For example, by refusing anyone who is not wearing a traditional Oeteldonk farmer's smock or jacket with emblems and a red-white-yellow scarf. A banana – the symbol for the poorly read Randstad resident – is not included.

Especially for carnival tourists, there are now also companies that rent out Oeteldonk outfits, ready-made and with the right colors and emblems. Traders are not always appreciated for this: the Oeteldonksche Club called the practice “wrong on all fronts”.

Rented or not, it is certainly better than a banana suit, says Vera van Oudheusden (30), who is celebrating carnival on the Market. And do you want people to adapt or not? “In recent years you have seen that people from above the rivers can really figure out for themselves that it is best to come here in farmer's smocks.”

She has refused to wear a smock for years, although the abundance of red, white and yellow in her outfit and the emblems on her dress leave no doubt about where she comes from. “It's actually stupid that such a thing is made out of it.”

At the command center on Saturday evening they look back on an exciting but successful day. The crowds of people from the station were large, Snellestraat and Uilenburg were preventively closed during the afternoon. After a change in the weather, the outflow started, event coordinator Van Geffen appts from the command center. The only place in Oeteldonk where a light shower is always welcome.

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