April 30th: Queensday / Koninginnedag

Today is a national holiday in the Netherlands. On Queensday we traditionally celebrate the Queen's birthday, but really it is the one national holiday that counts. Today the country will turn into one big street festival, with music, fleamarkets, games, drinks and food. The biggest party will be in Amsterdam attracting tens of thousands from outside the city, but Queensday is also very much about local community. About seven years ago, together with my old university buddy Danny de Vries, we joined the committee organizing festivities here in the city, with the aim to rejuvenate the committee and give the celebrations in the city a boost. I left the committee three years ago, when the changes had been effected for the most part. I am more of a change agent than a line manager :) Danny is still going strong.

For the past few years our city (Enschede) has seen a music festival on the evening before Queensday, and different festivities on all the squares in the city, with a huge flea market/bazaar connecting the squares. With more than 20.000 visitors on the night before and over a hundred thousand in the city today, it is bound to be a great day again today. The sun is shining...so let's put on some orange clothing (being our national color) and head out into the city.

If you can not make it to the Netherlands today, you can always join the programme in Second Life at 'Our Virtual Holland'. (SLURL)
Or have a look at the Flickr photostream of the photo's I made at Koninginnedag

Wearing orange is the thing to do today (here on the canals in Amsterdam)
Photo by marie-II

Others dye their hair...
Photo by transairn