In advance of Easter and Lent season, there was a Carnivale parade in Arnhem on Sunday March 3rd, 2019. We went and captured some photos of the spectacle.
There’s a few hours of lead up time before the parade arrives, so what we saw were people hanging out on the main street (Steenstraat), enjoying some drinks and music. I went inside the game store to hang out and play some games, of course.
The parade had people on foot and people on floats, and often both together. People on and off the floats threw candy to the kids; the whole affair was very kid friendly. On the website, where you sign up to be in the parade, there’s a whole section that basically says toss the candy nicely and not too hard.
More pictures from the parade.
It was great; people brought umbrellas, and I know you’re thinking, of course they did, it rains in the Netherlands! But no, it was so they could turn it upside down to catch candy! Oh those clever Dutch.
Ever efficient, this Dutch parade came with its own cleanup crew. No waiting until the next day for this cleanup job! That was good planning, as the combination of sugary candy + rainy weather would not have ended well.
This was my first Carnivale in the Netherlands. I had a lot of fun watching other people be silly, and being a little silly myself. Highly recommended, especially with a big group of your friends.