Veldstraat - Sakura

Dahlias make the cherry blossoms bloom

The cherry blossoms are the quintessential, globally recognized symbol of Japan; they are also regarded there as the national flower. This summer Veldstraat is paying tribute to that national symbol by using its own local flower: the dahlia.

The design named Sakura – which means cherry blossom – is an idea of designers Koen Zagers, Juul van Hassel, Jordi Aernouts and Koen Roelands, who are designing together for the first time.

Koen Roelands relates how they came to this design: “The four of us sat together to discuss some photos, from which the theme of Japan emerged. With the assistance of several people our concept subsequently took a huge turn and our design as it stands now was selected.” They call it a classic design, but with all kinds of gadgets that are meant to show they have guts.

For the float truly has to come alive, according to Juul van Hassel: “The float starts off fully closed: the woman has her eyes closed and the fan is folded shut. Then everything opens up and the blossoms are starting to bloom, just like at the beginning of spring.” Jordi Aernouts explains the symbolic value of all this: “The cherry blossoms in Japan have a short flowering period in the spring. We want to portray the beauty and serenity of the blossoms as part of the Japanese culture.”

Koen Zagers concludes: “The flowers will be our bit players.” He refers to the transformation that is set in motion by all the moving parts, making it almost seem as if the float changes its colours. The designers emphasize that the blossoming movements of almost eighty flowers in a short period of time also shows similarities with the nature of Corso. For the Corso in Zundert comes to life over the course of two days, after which the floats disappear again.

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Koen Zagers (37) is a carpenter; Juul van Hassel (24) is a metalworker; Jordi Aernouts (26) is an all-round construction worker/welder and Koen Roelands (34) is a work planner.

Original Dutch Text: Kris Verdonk
Translation: Bas Booij
Photo: José van Trijp – Fotografie  

Hamlet Veldstraat
www.veldstraat.nl

This article is brought to you by Corsief. An independent magazine about corsos in general and the Zundert flower parade in particular. The magazine is produced entirely by volunteers, who are all more or less active in the Zundert flower parade world. Corsief is entirely full-colour and appears four times a year.