Photo of the week: Party town

Summary

The annual Gentse Feesten is well under way, with thousands of spectators packing the streets

We like to party

Ghent’s annual 10-day city festival is taking place this week for the 176th time, with a programme of live music, street theatre, circus and more.

In total there are 3,621 activities, 1,866 of them free, organised by 400 different groups. Each day, 130,000 visitors are expected at the free festival, increasing to 200,000 at the weekend. There is a total of 650m of bars, with almost 250 terraces to drink on.

So far there have been no major security issues, though 15 people have been fined for urinating in public – including one man in the entrance to a police station. The Red Cross treated almost 800 people for a variety of complaints in the first five days, slightly higher than last year. A member of the band Tjeeventig was taken to hospital with a heat-related heart problem after performing at Sint Baafsplein.

Photo courtesy Stad Gent

Gentse Feesten

Gentse Feesten is a free 10-day music and street theatre festival every July in the city of Ghent. Next to multiple outdoors stages in squares across the city centre, it is home to a Puppet Buskers festival and techno festival Ten Days Off.
Biggest - The Gentse Feesten is the largest combined music and theatre festival in the world.
All day - Gentse Feesten doesn’t shut down. With only occasional midday lulls, the festivities go on day and night.
Commandments - In 2012, the non-profit Feestbaarheidskader (Festability Panel) answered neighbourhood complaints about noise and rowdy behaviour with an amusing, but stern, 10 Commandments for visitors.
1 843

first edition

765 000

square metres of surface area

2

million visitors

  • Gentse Feesten
  • Gentse Feesten blog
  • Visit Ghent