Dozens of café terraces across Leeuwarden are decked out with beach chairs promoting the city as a European Capital of Culture. There’s only one problem: the chairs spell it Leewarden, not Leeuwarden.
Translation by Traci White
The Leeuwarder Courant reports that the 120 misprinted chairs with the missing “u” were ordered and distributed by the year-long event’s promoters. Spokesperson Radboud Droog told the paper, “It went wrong on our end, but we’re just going to leave them like they are.”
The chairs are one of several items that businesses and event organisers can rent throughout the LF2018 year. Other items include flags, banners, flags, bean bags and jackets.
The marketing spin for the misspelled name is that the city has gone by 200 different variations of the name throughout the centuries. Documents from 1567, the year that the Oldehove church tower collapsed during a powerful storm, spell the Frisian capital’s name as “Leewarden”.
The organisers have now placed a new order for more beach chairs to be distributed across the province with the correct – contemporary – spelling.
Photo source: shop.friesland.nl
