Bavaria on its way to The Hague with carnival parade

date 07-02-2018

·        Sjefke Vaeren presents Lower House with more than 170,000 signatures

·        Mass attention for #carnavalvrij petition shows carnival is alive and fraternises

·        Bavaria aims for official recognition of national festival and time off for carnivalling population

Lieshout – Today, Sjefke Vaeren and Bavaria - on the eve of the national festival next weekend - took to The Hague with a full carnival parade from the Bavaria brewery. In The Hague, he presented the list of signatures to VVD party chairman Klaas Dijkhoff with a big smile on his face. Bavaria has been embracing carnival for years now, which is why the beer brewer from Brabant supports the official recognition of carnival and, as such, time off for a carnivalling population. The #carnavalvrij petition was signed en masse and carnival lovers showed this festival is very much alive. 
 
To the Lower House in carnival parade
The carnival songs still echo at Plein in The Hague. This afternoon, about 200 carnival fans had a small party when Sjefke presented the Lower House with a halfway score of the petition. Various MPs were attracted by the noise from the carnival bands and decided to join in the party. The signatures came flooding in after Brabant's own Che Guevara – Sjefke Vaeren as the charismatic leader of #carnavalvrij – asked the entire carnivalling population to sign the petition via this video. 
 
Fast response
In no time at all, freedom fighter Sjefke Vaeren gathered more than 170,000 people who joined the ‘fight’ for recognition of carnival or “vastelaovend” as they also call it, as an official holiday. The campaign proves to what extent carnival fraternises and connects people. “The enormous success of #carnavalvrij shows that this is a very popular festival.Sjefke Vaeren received en masse support from carnival fans and the signatures were collected in no time at all”, says Florent Renders, a staunch carnival enthusiast in Oeteldonk and a Marketeer at Bavaria. “We fight for the recognition of carnival as an official festival, aimed at all carnival lovers. Their overwhelming enthusiasm meant we were able to involve politicians with tongue firmly in cheek.” 
 
Carnival’s alive!
The fraternising national festival is extremely popular, especially in the provinces of Brabant and Limburg. As Bavaria also brings people together, the beer brewer wanted to unite all carnival lovers by launching this campaign. “Bavaria IS carnival. With our Brabant roots and our commitment to carnival - because many of us enjoy a refreshing glass of beer in the process - we thought it was fabulous to see so many people responding”, says Renders.
 
Support Sjefke
People have the opportunity to support Sjefke until Tuesday 13 February 00:00 via carnavalvrij.nl. “Once carnival is over, we’ll announce the final score. But whatever happens, Bavaria will continue to embrace carnival. The carnival towns and cities in particular should be brimming over with enthusiasm in the next few days. We would like to thank all carnival fans for their support and we hope they’ll have a fantastic carnival and vastelaovend, Renders concludes.