Every year at the end of July, the Tilburg Fair is organized, the largest fair in the Benelux, which lasts ten days and ends on the last Sunday of July. In 2023, the fair will take place from 21 to 30 July and the 4.5-kilometer route through the center of Tilburg will be filled with around 230 to 240 attractions from the Netherlands and abroad. The Tilburgse Kermis, which celebrates its 450th anniversary this year, attracts more than a million visitors annually, making it one of the best-attended events in the Netherlands.
There are various theme days during the Tilburgse Kermis, including Blue Sunday, an afternoon for and by people with a form of autism, Pink Monday, which quickly became the most visited part of the fair after its first edition in 1990 and attracts between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors annually, consisting of both gays (LGBT) ) as straight people, and Single Friday, an afternoon for singles that takes place on the last Friday of the fair.
Traditionally, the fair is 'buried' on the last evening. At 22:00 the attractions close and a procession is formed with musical accompaniment from the Heuvelse Kerk to the Piushaven. Here the fair is symbolically buried by the Tilburg fire brigade, after which a fireworks company presents a 15-minute fireworks show.
Sven Peeters
