7,000 visitors during first edition Vlinvestival
The first edition of Vlinvestival was a real hit that young and old alike enjoyed. With an impressive line-up, the festival offered a variety of entertainment for everyone. As the organisation limited the number of visitors to 7,000, there was no overcrowding, but a pleasant bustle prevailed on the festival site at Heide.
For the first edition of Vlinvestival, Vlinvesta partnered with Marcel Van Dyck Belgium and Keukens Van Lommel. In this way, we wanted to thank our employees for their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our employees were invited to come and enjoy the festival with their family members for two days, giving it a very family-like character. “Seeing everyone here smiling so happily gives me enormous satisfaction,” confesses Johan Van Loo as he strolls around the festival grounds. “The festivals are booming at the moment, which made it a feat to organise this. So it makes me very happy to see everyone enjoying themselves now. We succeeded in our mission because we wanted to offer our employees an unforgettable weekend after two tough years.”
With headliners such as Natalia, Metejoor, 2 Fabiola, Sylver, Regi, Camille, and Cleymans & Van Geel, Vlinvestival boasted an impressive line-up. “With this line-up, we could have easily attracted several thousand festival-goers if we had advertised nationally,” notes Johan Van Loo. “We purposely decided not to because we only went flyering in Hulshout. Therefore, to keep the festival manageable and enjoyable, we limited the number of visitors to 7,000. In total, we handed out 5,000 tickets to our partners and employees. This left some 2,000 tickets available for people from the surrounding area, all sold out.”
Hilde Huyskens and Johan Ceusters settle into two beach chairs where they can carefully observe everything. “Here, we are sitting in the front row. We have a good view of the stage and, at the same time, we can also see the rest of the festival site. We had no plans this weekend, so this was a perfect activity. We arrived at the meadow after the festival started at 4 pm. Partly to make sure not to miss anything, but mainly because here we can enjoy the good weather and catch some of the performances. Unfortunately, there are long breaks between the live performances, which we fill up by looking around. We are here mainly for Sylver and 2 Fabiola, but our absolute favourite is Natalia. For her, we will happily storm up front and leave our beach chair behind,” they say.
Part of the site is reserved for funfair rides and bouncy castles to enhance the family-like character of the festival. Eef Theys and Britt Lambaerts let their 6-year-old daughters Flo and Elise play to their hearts’ content. “The children find it incredibly fun,” they say. “This is their first festival. So it is very appealing for them to play together between performances. But, of course, like our daughters, we don’t want to miss certain performances. Natalia and Camille are at the top of our list, so we spend the whole weekend on the festival site.”
Anke Fraters, Tamara Wesseling, and Sandy Vets enjoy a glass of bubbly in the extended VIP area. “Our husbands work with Vlinvesta, and we are here to have a good time. We can get to know each other better and also make new contacts. This festival is a great initiative because there is usually little to do in the region. Now, we can enjoy two days in beautiful surroundings. Of course, we follow all performances, but Metejoor is at the top of our list,” they say. As the ladies start a polonaise, they quickly exclaim: “We are here for the atmosphere and the fun!”
Source: Het Nieuwsblad – Annelies Frederickx
