The district authorities in the centre of Antwerp are handing out 1,000 pink gnomes at 2 city centre locations to encourage those that live in the centre of Antwerp to make their neighbourhood greener. The gnomes are being given away on the Operaplein and at the entrance/exit to the Left Bank pedestrian tunnel.
Thousands of pink gnomes appear in Antwerp to encourage residents to make their area greener
Published:
Don’t be surprised if your see a sea of pink on the Operaplein or at the entrance to the Left Bank pedestrian tunnel in Antwerp. The district authorities in the centre of Antwerp are giving away 1,000 pink garden gnomes as part of their “Buurt in bloei” (Neighbourhood in Bloom) campaign. Buurt in bloei is a campaign designed to encourage people that live in the city centre to make the area in which they live greener by, for example putting plants on their terraces or window boxes with plants and flowers on their window sills.
Anja van Stappershoef is in charge of the project. She told VRT News that "A gnome is part and parcel of a nice green garden and we want to encourage our residents to make their neighbourhood greener. At the bottom of each garden gnome there is a QR code that you can scan to get more information on how you can do this, including how to get a free façade garden from the district authority”.
Commuters at the Left Bank pedestrian tunnel reacted with pleasant surprise when they saw the bright pink gnomes. “They just offered me a pink garden gnome to brighten up my garden, that’s really nice” Tine, who plans to put the gnome in the garden at her work, told VRT News.
“I'm going to scan the QR code later to get some more information about the campaign” commuter Kato said as she passed on her bicycle.