Sneekweek, an annual ten-day event in the Frisian city of Sneek focused on watersports and sailing, may be changing. Local police forces are calling for the event to be shortened to seven days.
The Leeuwarder Courant reports that event organisers, local business people and residents of Sneek do not want to make any concessions when it comes to the duration of Sneekweek, which brings an additional 200,000 visitors to the area every August. But all of the involved parties concede that the second weekend of the event should be reevaluated in order to attract a more diverse audience to Friesland.
“Sneekweek stretches us very thin”, according to a statement from the police. “A combination of a lot of people drinking and not getting much sleep means that the mood changes for the worse over the course of the week.” Business owners who count on having more customers during Sneekweek also acknowledge that the city centre should not be turned into a festival grounds.
New approach
In past years, the event lost some steam after the Hardzieldag and the final sailing events on Thursday. The event’s organisers hope that focusing more on cultural activities in the latter half of the week will make Sneekweek a more enjoyable event for everyone.
