Don’t miss the kids dressed up as hops
Make sure to scroll down to the picture of children in Poperinge dressed up in hops costumes when you read Roger Baylor’s account of his trip to the Netherlands and Belgium.
Need an excuse to start planning for the next one (in 2008)? He writes:
Hop-related events and related revelry take place throughout the festival weekend, but the highlight is the Sunday parade through the tidy streets of Poperinge. The parade actually tells a story, with an accompanying libretto of sorts printed in several languages, periodic chapter markers, and a refreshing absence of commercial considerations.
The story concerns the history of brewing, the history of the hop, and its importance to the Poperinge economy. Onlookers meet the enemies of the hop - for instance, brightly festooned children as beetles - and the plant’s friends, other whistling children dressed as birds.
This year’s parade highlight came when the uniformed marching band from Wolnzach, Poperinge’s hoppy Bavarian sister city, stopped in front of the Hotel Palace, wheeled to face Guy, the owner, and played “Happy Birthday to You” on the occasion of his 60th.
