Orange Festival, a Festival of Spectacular Orange Masterpieces

At anytime of the year, a lot of festivals are celebrated all over the world. They bring participants many different feelings such as funny with Cheese Rolling in England, a little bit dirty but exciting with Mud Festival in South Korea or enthusiastic with Tomato Battle in Spain. However, you will surely be surprised if you have a chance to pay a visit to the Orange Festival in Netherlands, a festival of spectacular orange masterpieces.

After more than fifty years, the Orange Festival, now, becomes one of the most famous annual festivals in Dutch. Each year, it attracts over 700 thousand visitors worldwide, especially European visitors. The festival which is also known as the Queen’s day is originally celebrated to commemorate the national unity in Netherlands. Nowadays, the festival often falls on 30th April, the birthday of late Queen Juliana. In festival’s time, Amsterdam city where the festival takes place is covered with the bright orange color. Amsterdam, indeed, becomes a joyful party area bursting particularly around Dam, Rokin and Damrak.

Although, the festival is just in a day’s time, its preparation starts a month before. During this time, a large number of the best oranges are shipped in from neighboring countries like Spain, France, etc and the islands in the Mediterranean. Then numerous talented artists everywhere in Holland are invited to come and make extraordinary works of art, such as: giant castles, magnificent windmill houses, famous cartoons, local charming farmers, etc in different sizes and colors of fresh fruits. All of them are marvelously displayed throughout Amsterdam city and wait for the amazing moment of the party.

In the festival day, a lot of activities occur around the city. However, the celebrating has actually begun the night before (the Queen’s night). Clubs and bars are opened for playing, drinking, and dancing until morning. In the next day, the first impression is that everything is radiant with the orange color. The local people as well as foreign visitors wear orange clothes, the symbol of Royal family. They heartily dance and sing traditional Dutch songs. Visitors can take pictures of impressive orange sculptures, drink cold tasty orange juice served freely.

Banners and flags are flown with the same color, even some of fountains have a pigment added to the water. As time goes by, the crowded on the street makes the atmosphere more likely and enjoyable. For the bargain shoppers, a free market is also held for trading something you no longer need for. The stalls are filled up with a huge variety of antiques like clocks, vases, pictures, even swords.

After immersing into these exhilarating activities, it will be a miss not to not join the breathtaking outdoor rock concert in late morning. The strong voices together with jubilant melodies will leave you an unforgettable experience.

In fact, the concern is not only a farewell but also an invitation for the next year festival. If you are the one of the people who considers Amsterdam as one of Europe’s best party cities, then the Orange Festival, April 30th, will help you to confirm your ideas.