He is sitting comfortably in the shade of his duck fishing colleague, while he keeps an eye on his tin-throwing stall from a distance. Next to him, his wife and daughter are waiting in their VR Simulator for the first customers. Fairground operator Freek Terpstra has been coming to Son en Breugel for about 25 years. “The village atmosphere really appeals to me”.
This is also one of the reasons that Freek (40) and his family mainly visit the smaller funfairs (kermis in Dutch). Rather than, for example, Tilburg or Eindhoven. “We have also been to a medium-sized funfair like Valkenswaard, but we feel most at home at the smaller village funfairs. Like here in Son en Breugel, but also in Nuenen, Geldrop-Mierlo and Beek en Donk”.
The Terpstra family themselves live in Raalte in Overijssel. But throughout the year they visit the whole of the Netherlands. “From Schagen to Maastricht and from Renesse to Groningen”, Freek lists. “And in winter we even go to the Christmas market in Berlin, so you can say we are a funfair family that loves to travel. Tin throwing has been around for hundreds of years and my ancestors used to be in all kinds of villages and cities”.
Nostalgia
Freek is the thirteenth (!) generation in the long line of family members who have earned their money in one way or another with fairground attractions. He is also a board member of the fairground association Bovak. “Our family is intertwined with fairs. You can compare it to the circus. If you have been in this world from a young age, you never want anything else. The freedom and celebrating together with people is addictive”.
Freek proudly shows a copper bell that belonged to his grandfather. He in turn had received the bell from his mother. “The bell used to hang under the merry-go-round and later under the swing carousel”, Freek says. “So it is a bit of nostalgia. My grandfather was the first in the family with a tin-throwing stall and my parents took it over”.
Virus
Freek and his wife Minie have two daughters. 17-year-old Selina now has her own stall, in which people experience a virtual experience. Her 13-year-old sister Alisha is still in school and works at the fair on weekends. “They both already have the virus,” Freek laughs. “We give them complete freedom in their choices, but I think they will ‘just’ come to the business”.
And then something about can throwing. Because this old-fashioned game is not subject to trends, the stall has provided a stable income for years, Freek says. “Without crazy peaks or strange valleys, because we are not bothered by the attraction being popular one year and not the next. Moreover, it fits in perfectly with a village atmosphere, like here in Son en Breugel”.
