Bad news for people with green fingers. The 31st edition of the flower and garden event on the Gulbergen estate in Nuenen will not take place this year. The event has been forced to be cancelled following the theft of 105 of the 270 steel road plates. “I’m really sick of it”, Christel Schellens, of the organisers, says.
It all went wrong last summer on the night of the fifth day, as it turns out. “Volunteers of Bloem en Tuin (flower and garden) went to the parking lot and discovered that the plates were missing. My husband was called and he initially thought that a few had disappeared. Once there, it turned out that half of the parking lot had been stolen”.
According to Schellens, this was probably the work of a professional gang. There was 24-hour security present, but they had not noticed anything. The gang may be planning to sell the plates as scrap metal. What makes the theft even more painful is that the insurance company is not yet willing to pay up.
No signs of forced entry
“The insurance company states that there are no signs of forced entry. But that is because the plates were lying on open ground. They have been placed there for 25 years and that has always gone well. Until last year. Very annoying for us, but also for the plate dealer”, Christel is annoyed.
The organisation does not want to say how big the hole in the budget is due to the theft. What is clear is that a steel track plate costs around €1,000 each online.
For Arvid and Christel Schellens, who took over the organisation of Bloem en Tuin from John Geven at the beginning of 2023, it means the end of the green fair for the time being. An event that attracts between 40,000 and 50,000 visitors every year.
“What is happening to us now, we thought”, Christel emotionally says. “But it does not only affect us. For example, it also affects the stallholders who thought they could do business”.
Throwing in the towel
Still, Schellens does not want to throw in the towel. It would have been the last time on Landgoed (estate) Gulbergen, which is to become a regional city park. That will not go ahead this year. However, other locations are being considered to continue Bloem en Tuin in the future. “First, the theft has to be settled with the insurance”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
