Tickets for large trial festivals and events sold out within the hour

While life is still uncertain due to the world pandemic, some trial events and concerts are being held in the Netherlands. The aim is to gather data and discover whether it’s possible to safely conduct such gatherings in the future. The tickets for four trial events, happening in March, were sold out an hour after going on sale, despite the website crashing constantly due to the large amount of traffic.

Fans could buy tickets for two events in the Ziggo Dome and two festivals to be held at Walibi Holland in Biddinghuizen. The small-scale events take place as part of the Fieldlab Events study. According to AD, the first event is scheduled for 6 March. Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano and Sam Feldt will perform during a dance party at the Ziggo Dome. The next day, André Hazes gives a concert in the same hall, together with a supporting act and a special guest. A total of 1300 visitors are allowed for each event. They will be divided into five bubbles of 250 people and one group of 50, Nu.nl reports. The other two events happen on 13 and 14 March. The first is a dance festival and the second is a pop festival with artists Chef’s Special, Maan and Bilal Wahib. Each day, 1500 visitors are admitted. They will be divided into three groups of 500. Earlier trials were already held in February: a try-out at a conference for people from the event industry, a theater show by comedian Guido Weijers and two football matches.

Het Parool newspaper describes how an alliance of different organizations, universities and scientists is looking at how this type of events can be safely organized. To ensure, the visitors are subjected to multiple corona tests before and after the event and must adhere to various measures. “It is a practical test. At the door we do a temperature test and a health test. A quick corona test is also done on a random basis for some of the visitors,” explains Lubberts. For each event, specific ‘bubbles’ are created, as described above. “Each bubble is a separate group of people. They have their own bar, their own entrance and their own toilet. They do not come into contact with the other groups. This way, we can create a set of test measures,” explains Pieter Lubberts from Fieldlab Events. Different rules apply to each group: some have to wear face masks, some don’t; some have to keep 1.5 metres distance, others don’t. Everyone will be tracked via a tag, so that the contact time and the distance from other people can be measured.

The hope is that, based on the tests, more events like this will be allowed in the future. “If you look at the current roadmap, we are only able to admit a hundred people in the first phase. That is not a number that will make you profitable in this industry, certainly not in the Ziggo Dome,” said, venue director Danny Damman. When the Ziggo Dome will be allowed to function at full capacity – 17,000 visitors – is still a mystery for Damman. The director hopes that this will still possible this year. The Dutch State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Mona Keijzer, told Het Parool that “going back to normal, whether it is a conference with your colleagues, a sports match or a concert, is what everyone wants. These tests not only offer prospects for entrepreneurs, but also for visitors. We all crave it. With these practical tests, we offer this possibility in a safe and responsible way, taking into account the developments of the corona virus”.

Let’s hope for the best; may we soon be gathered together outside, safe and happy.

Written by Raphael Perachi Vieira

In the province of Drenthe a number of pig farmers are making their animals useful before they go to slaughter. The pigs live outside, so they can be used on the fields for the management of forests and farming, bringing a variety of benefits. The Netherlands is known around the world for its intensive pig farming and multi-storey ‘pig flats’. Seeing them outside is so rare that the animals have become a kind of tourist attraction, as Dutch media have recently reported.

One of the farmers, Willem Hempen, bases his company Akkervarken (Field Pig) on what he calls a ‘double goal’ philosophy. Before his pigs, from Berkshire, Duroc and Husumer breeds, end up as a ‘good piece of meat’, they must make themselves useful in a natural way. Hempen referred calls his animals ‘small agricultural machines on legs’. According to him, whatever crazy thing you think of, you can use pigs for it.

fields are thoroughly cleaned of weeds after the harvest, so that farmers will not have to resort to glyphosate or other poisons. Hempen also explained that the animals do their job thoroughly: “Recently I received a call from a farmer who said: they are digging up to a meter deep. It turned out that a weed called peat root was growing there.” Pigs like some plant and weed species that are known for being invasive, and while some Dutch municipalities are struggling to, for example, combat Japanese knotweed by injecting or electrocuting hot water into the roots, Hempen has been using his animals for years in a much more effective way. Since his pigs are allowed to consume potato leftovers, they can also help avoid crop-destroying potato blight. In a similar light, on a forest plot near Roderesch in Drenthe, a bunch of winter-hardy Mangalitsa Hungarian pigs owned by ‘wild’ pig farmer Hans Wilpstra of Ecolife Natuurvlees are taking care of proliferating blackberry scrubs, which are known to deprive other plant species of space.

Meanwhile in another part of Drenthe, the outdoor pigs of Maarten Jansen, founder of the Mangalicahof, are also busy improving soil. Jansen is a ‘primal farmer’ who keeps the Mangalitsa breed and other animals in more natural ways. Mating too occurs naturally, and, says Jansen, as long as there is enough space, the animals themselves ensure that things go well. Their digging stimulates composting, enabling the pigs to be systematic cleaners of farm land. whose forest pigs eat wild acorns, said: “You taste what they eat in these animals; acorns give their meat a darker taste.” At the Mangalicahof, the meat from Jansen’s biodynamic company is also known for an improved taste, and ‘improved composition of healthy unsaturated fatty acids’. Mangalicahof produces dry hams and sausages, which are sent throughout the country and even into Germany and France, and appreciated by first-rate chefs. An animal needs time to grow, and when animals are able to forage and root for food, says the company, which ‘after all is how they have developed through evolution’, their meat becomes tasty and tender.

There are other initiatives in the Netherlands, such as Buitengewone Varkens (Extraordinary Pigs), a company whose outdoor pigs are spread across the Netherlands in twelve locations, but keeping pigs this way remains a rare sight. When Hempen deployed his pigs as landscape managers for his first job, on a green strip that was overgrown with giant hogweed, he learned this first-hand: even the relevant government department told him there are no guidelines for keeping pigs in this way. This also means that finding land for the animals to root on is not easy. Wilpstra says he has had to lobby to find space for his animals. But now, increased demand means he has to disappoint landowners, since he does not have enough animals for all owners who want to benefit from the advantages of pigs.