Queen's Day Mania

Our first Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) experience on April 30th has come and gone and the biggest Dutch party of the year did not disappoint! We had high hopes for the day, celebrating the lovely lady pictured above, Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Queen's Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen and is meant to be a national day of unity and "togetherness". As it turns out, April 30th is the actual birthday of Queen Beatrix's mother and predecessor, Queen Juliana; however, since Beatrix was born in January, the Dutch didn't feel it made sense to hold an annual outdoor party in the middle of winter. For that reason Queen Juliana's birthday has remained the celebration date since 1949 and will most likely stay that way for years to come.

We were fortunate to have two important people in our lives also join us for Queen's Day this year. My brother, Matthew, was visiting from Vancouver and planned his trip to Europe so he could be a part of the festivities. Also, my girlfriend, Nathalie, was visiting from Calgary and also joined in on the fun!

The Preparations



The thing that impressed us the most about Queen's Day was all the time and effort put into the preparations. Weeks in advance, stores were already stocked with Dutch party items including orange banners, face and body paint, hats, wigs and feather boas. On the day itself, most streets were decorated with orange balloons and streamers, elaborate concert venues were set up in all the major pleins (squares), and the city even went to the extent of disposing hundreds of free-standing urinals everywhere - a hygienic necessity when millions of people are roaming the streets and drinking alcohol in public is allowed.


Given the expected crowds in Amsterdam, and the fact we were told it could take up to an hour to walk the distance normally covered in ten minutes, we had our day somewhat planned out in advance. We knew we wanted to walk through the streets of our own neighbourhood, visit Vondelpark where kids would be selling things and giving performances, and then head up to the Jordaan neighbourhood to witness the party atmosphere on the canals.

City-Wide Flea Market

One of the most unique parts of Queen's Day was the "vrijmarkt" (free market). On April 30th, the government allows people to sell their personal goods in public without having to pay taxes on their sales. Starting a week in advance, residents taped off areas of the sidewalk to reserve the prime selling locations.

In addition to the typical "junk" you might find at a flee market (i.e. used clothes, books, dishes, antiques, gadgets, etc), on Queen's Day you also find people selling other unique items such as baked goods, freshly-squeezed juice, and the use of their toilet. Yes, for a hefty 2 Euros you could use the private toilet found in someone's home. Not a bad idea given the lack of public toilets for women on Queen's Day and the fact that the average daily amount an individual makes by charging for the use of their toilet is 80 euros!




While Queen's Day is commonly known as one crazy street party, we were also happy to experience a great family atmosphere throughout the day. Vondelpark was especially fun as it was reserved for children and served as a great place for them to sell their own "junk" and make their own money by giving music and dance performances to the crowds walking by.

Orange, Orange and More Orange

In true Dutch fashion, orangegekte (orange craze) was very much alive and well on April 30th. By observing the people on the streets, there were very few rules about what clothing or accessories to wear or how to wear them, as long as you were wearing orange. As you can imagine, this made for some pretty ridiculous costumes. Have you ever wondered why the Dutch national colour is orange and not red, white and blue like the country's flag? I have. Once again, we have the Queen to thank for orange craze since it stems from the name of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange.

Matthew and Chris made a point of finding the tackiest orange hats possible from one of the many street vendors and I think they did well with their matching plastic poorboy hats. As for Nathalie, she opted for the massive orange visor - another Queen's Day classic!

Canal Party Boats

By far, the most entertaining part of Queen's Day was watching events unfold on the canals. By early afternoon, large and small boats alike began to fill the narrow waterways and create some of the most electrifying atmosphere we have ever experienced.

The scene went something like this...imagine a boat, filled to the brim with very enthusiastic people, dressed in orange, and dancing non-stop to their boat's thumping music (and in some cases a live band on the boat). Multiply that by at least five hundred boats and you get the picture. Noisy, chaotic, incredible. We've already decided that next year the only way we will be celebrating Queen's Day is on a boat!


Having recently experienced the atmosphere at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, I can honestly say that Queen's Day felt like two weeks of Olympic spirit crammed into one day. It's something to see and experience if you have the chance. I promise you, the Dutch will not disappoint...they are God's finishing touch after all!


After Queen's Day, we were quite certain that would be the end of Dutch national pride on display until next year. Oh, how we were wrong. I'm not kidding you, with the start of the Soccer World Cup in less than two weeks, orange is everywhere again. Depending on how the Dutch team performs, Queen's Day-like celebrations could be here again before we know it!