Occasionally, those who protested the existence of the event would strew the roads with thumb-tacks to puncture tyres and switch around signs to confound walkers.

That is behind us, it is hoped, with the new festival, launched by de rand minister Geert Bourgeois and sports minister Philippe Muyters. The slogan of the event is Bewegen klinkt goed, or Movement Sounds Good, a nod to the two main aspects of the festival.

“It will be a combination of music and sport, with which we hope to be able to attract a lot of people to the Flemish periphery,” says Eddy Frans, director of De Rand, the Flemish agency that organises events to bring together residents living in the periphery. De Rand is organising the festival along with sports agency Bloso and the province of Flemish Brabant.

The changes will be immediately evident. The event kicks off on Friday, 30 August, with a music festival in the provincial park in Huizingen featuring artists who sing wholly or mainly in Dutch, including Senne Guns; Walrus, the band of Yevgueni keyboard player Geert Noppe; Axl Peleman, who goes one better by singing in the Antwerp dialect; and headliners De Nieuwe Snaar, a long-time folk-skifflehumour combo, in one of their last appearances.

The event continues the following Sunday, with walking routes through the Zonienwoud east of Brussels and in guest municipality Pepingen, where there’s an art walk, mountain bike parcours and a family cycling route. There are also sporting events galore in Huizingen and the Bloso park in Hofstade and routes for cyclists of between 25km and 55km; hardened cyclists can try their hand at the 115km route, which passes through 17 different municipalities.

There will also be more sedate entertainments, including music and theatre in Kraainem, Huizingen, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wezembeek-Oppem and Pepingen, and an outside broadcast of the Radio 2 show Muziekcafé in Hofstade.

“The Gordel Festival will build on the strong points of the past, like walking and cycling, but will also venture farther,” says Bourgeois. “The Flemish character of the area remains an important aspect, and if we can add to that some excellent musical and tourist discoveries, the success of the new formula will be guaranteed.”

Tickets cost €5 and are valid for both days, with reductions for families and associations.

www.gordelfestival.be