NL: Impression Aalsmeer Flower Festival 2017

This year, the Flower Festival organization included two big eye catchers in the program. Around the striking Aalsmeer water tower a 100 meter long pontoon was built in the Westeinderplassen, and decorated with flower creations that suggested the connection between land and water in an imaginative way. Both the professional jobs of the arrangers (led by chief arranger Marloes Joore) and the floating promenade could count on a lot of interest and admiration.

The second spectacular part was formed by the Hana Ike Battles, short contests between flower stylists, with the challenge to make the most beautiful flower arrangement in five minutes. From Japan, where this phenomenon exists longer, two arrangers were flown in to give demonstrations and to compete with Dutch colleagues. It produced a beautiful clash of styles and competitions with a high level of entertainment.

Although these parts attracted much attention, the festival had much more to offer. Opposite the water tower, Gallery Sous-Terre featured stylish art with flowers. In the Historical Garden were, apart from the Hana Ike Battles, thousands of beautiful roses displayed as part of the ROOOZ exhibition. The Molenplein was transformed into a garden square with a Gerbera-decorated Corn mill De Leeuw as highlight (arrangement Mike Boerma). At Belle Epoque visitors could indulge themselves in the many roses and an art object (arrangement Frans Neuman). In addition to workshops and demonstrations, the Boerma Institute offered numerous breathtaking arrangements and flowery objects. In the former auction building Bloemenlust, nowadays The Beach, guided tours were given by Henk de Gooijer. Also flower art could be seen here and children could get active with flowers in many creative ways.

Prior to the public event, the official opening of the Flower Festival took place on Friday, 16 June, at Galerie Sous-Terre. Guest speaker was Bart Siemerink, director of the Keukenhof. Other speakers were Mayor Jeroen Nobel of Aalsmeer and festival chairman Mariska Foppen. The opening was conducted by Adnan Tekin, deputy of the Provincial Executive of North Holland, assisted by none other than Karin Bloemen.

Even though it was very windy at the opening, it was mainly the heat in the days afterwards that visitors had to cope with. The fact that the flower work in general stayed together, was a characteristic of the quality of the products traded in this region. Aalsmeer Flower Festival has the ambition to grow into a medium-sized public event where visitors can experience the power and splendor of flowers and plants. The edition of 2017 can be seen as a next step forward in that direction.