Mayor opens International Nijmegen Marches with hundreds of brass bands

The mayor of Nijmegen, Hubert Bruls, opened the Four Days Marches in his city on Saturday afternoon with the music of many hundreds of brass bands. On 22 stages in the center of Nijmegen, fanfares and marching bands simultaneously played a specially arranged version of Celebration by Kool & the Gang. The Four Days Marches last until Friday. The 105th Four Days Marches will start in Nijmegen on Tuesday.

The Nijmegen Four-Days Festival wants to be as diverse and sustainable as possible. That's why this year the festival is offering sustainable meals at various locations in the city, where it is noted how many emissions the food has caused before it is sold. This way, visitors can decide for themselves how responsibly they want to eat. According to festival director Joris Bouwmeister, more space has also been made for people with disabilities, and separate programs for youth, seniors, and refugees have been added to the LGBTIQ+ festival Pink Wednesday on July 19. Pink Wednesday will conclude with a Pride Walk.

Bruls is proud of the biggest multi-day festival in Europe. But he worries about the trash left behind after revelers have gone home. Waste company Dar removes more than 300 tons of trash from the city in a week. The Nijmegen mayor wants 75 percent of all cups, plates, and other materials to be reusable next year. The round cups introduced last year have already been a success, Dar said. For instance, about 58 percent of the cups were fully reused, from which 2.4 million new cups were made.

Furthermore, Bruls will attend the Four Days Marches Mass at St. Stevenskerk in Nijmegen on Sunday morning. On Monday, the mayor will lay a wreath at the military memorial service at the Canadian Field of Honor Cemetery in Groesbeek. Buried on this field of honor are 2619 mostly Canadian soldiers who died in the liberation of the Netherlands during World War II. Canadian and other soldiers participating in the Four Day Marches hold a ceremony there every year.