The Gentse Feesten , the Ghent Festival, Europe’s largest street party, attracted 190,000 visitors yesterday. The figure equals the turnout on Saturday but is considerably more than last year on eve of the national holiday, when 105,000 people attended.
The numbers put pressure on car parks. There were also long queues at cycle parking facilities. Whilst incorrectly parked bicycles were removed, Ghent police’s bait bike intended to attract and catch bike thieves was also accidentally taken away.
Festival Mayor Joris Vandenbroucke says that the busiest period came late in the evening. “There were just as many visitors as on Saturday, but the peak was higher and came later”.
Most visitors arrived in the city centre between 1 and 2 am.
Vandenbroucke believes that many people came out to party later because the following day is a public holiday. By around 8.30 pm, all the car parks in the city centre were already full. More cars were also parked at the out-of-town car park at The Loop.
Ghent police’s bait bike taken away
The cycle racks in the city centre also filled up on Monday evening. Visitors sometimes had to wait quite a while to park their bikes. “We have exhausted all possibilities of providing extra cycle racks this year,” says Vandenbroucke.
According to the festival mayor, the number of visitors arriving by bike has been rising for four years running. The city is looking into what additional capacity might be possible next year.
‘In eagerness to remove incorrectly parked bikes, the police bait bike that was incorrectly parked was also removed,’ says Vandenbroucke. ‘During the Ghent Festival, the charity Fietsambassade does the rounds to collect any bikes that might be obstructing the emergency services. As it happened, the police’s bait bike was among them.’