Harvest Festival in Berg aan de Maas

Virtually the whole village community of Berg aan de Maas, a village in Limburg that belongs to the municipality of Stein, is involved in the Harvest Festival. Around seven hundred volunteers, between a thousand and two thousand participants in the Cultural Parade and approximately four hundred people in the Street Theatre. All the pupils of primary schools in Berg attend the festivities. The events attract between ten thousand and twenty thousand visitors from the region each year.

The first Harvest Festival in Berg aan de Maas was organised in 1946. Subsequently they have taken place every year. The gratitude for the harvest is not leading anymore, though the original thought is still significant. In the first few years the Harvest Festival was organised by a couple of inhabitants of Berg aan de Maas. In 1959 a Stichting Oogstdankfeest (Harvest Festival Foundation) was established that became responsible for the organisation of the Harvest Festival. Immediately, in 1946, there was a parade of four floats. In the course of the years the parade evolved into an event to which all the neighbourhoods of Berg aan de Maas contributed. Around the turn of the century the interest in the parade decreased. Apparently a change of course was needed. In 2005 the parade was renamed Cultural Parade. The theme always has an interface with the cultural history of the region. The evenings in the party pavilion have also changed considerably over the years. In recent years there have been special feasts for young people. In 1989 a separate afternoon for seniors was organised for the first time. As of 2012 this afternoon has been transformed into a cheerful happening for sick and handicapped people. 1984 the first Harvest Queen was selected and ever since the installation of this queen has been a separate activity on a Sunday in May or June.

2022-2025

• - Maintain website and expand with promotional videos. Make promotional videos. Social media tracking
• - Continue to make and explain all communications of the organization under the new name.
• - Think about educational items for primary schools.
• - Digitize for the archive, both new and old.
• - Recruite volunteers through and through a personal approach.
• - Set up a brainstorming evening for young people for tips and possibly. implementation to reach more young people.
• - Invest in good contacts with the municipality.
• - Keep the festivities safe and tidy in a good and reasonable way. Security not very visible, but present.
• - Still unclear what the consequences are of the wbtr. Notify potential candidates for board functions.
• - Mainly through recruiting through sponsors, using a personal method. Treat all sponsors as VIP.
• - Implement sustainability as much as possible: use electrical generators, make a decision about glasses for consumption.