King's Day parties struggling under regulations, rising costs

King’s Day parties, especially the ones that don’t charge an entry fee, are struggling for survival under increasing costs and stricter regulations, RTL Nieuws found in a survey of event organizers. In some cities, including Den Bosch, Roermond, and Hoorn, the usual parties aren’t happening at all this year.

Hospitality entrepreneur Jos Poeze usually organizes a large joint King’s Night party with other entrepreneurs on a square in the Hoorn city center. This year, the party won’t happen. He blames increasing costs and regulatory pressure.

“The largest expenses are now for security, because they get 150 percent on King’s Day, and we have to set up a lot of security,” Poeze told the broadcaster. “Stage and sound are expensive, artists can no longer be booked for a reasonable amount. It is all just getting more and more difficult.”

The broadcaster heard similar accounts from parties in Den Bosch and Roermond. “The last two years we have organized a party on King’s Day, but it is not profitable We have to pay extra in, so we are stopping,” said entrepreneur Otto van den Groenendaal of Stadsherbert ‘t Pumpke in Den Bosch.

There are also two festivals that charge an entry fee in Rotterdam and Amsterdam that won’t take place this year.

Other festivals are still operating by making cuts and adjustments. “In the past, we could do with eight security guards, but now we need 26,” Kai Bertelmans, who co-organizes the large party on Grote Markt in Almere, told the broadcaster. “We cannot cut back on the demands of the police and the municipality, so the knife is cutting elsewhere. Think of less lighting, LED screens, and a different line-up.”

Jos Klerx, a hospitality economist at Rabobank, agrees that festival organizers are facing a mountain of rising costs. Everything is getting more expensive, from personnel to stage building. “And the costs of security have increased by 50 percent in the past three years,” he told RTL Nieuws. “Large multi-day events for which you have to pay admission, those still cover the costs, but the smaller parties are increasingly struggling and may disappear.”

Klerx called King’s Day parties nationwide a great asset for the Netherlands. Municipalities could do something to preserve them, he thinks. “For example, municipalities could guarantee any losses that may occur if the weather is bad. Then entrepreneurs can also take that risk with a bit more ease. And if the sun does shine? Then the municipality doesn’t have to pay that money either.”