Bloemencorso Zundert

Bloemencorso Zundert (Zundert Flower Parade), also known as Corso Zundert, is an annual flower show held in the small Dutch town of Zundert. Founded in 1936, it is one of the longest-running flower parades in Europe, as well as the world’s largest flower parade entirely organized by volunteers.

Bloemencorso Zundert started as a small local festival, but today it is one of the largest and most famous flower shows in the world. The procession features 20 spectacularly decorated floats built by different hamlets (districts of the municipality of Zundert). It attracts more than 50,000 spectators each year.

The Zundert Flower Parade takes place on the first Sunday in September, but preparations begin months in advance because it takes a lot of time, effort and money to build a float. Each of the competing hamlets creates a huge sculpture covered in thousands of dahlias to impress the spectators.

Each construction team consists of hundreds of volunteers of different ages. The older participants are responsible for planting and growing the dahlias used to decorate the floats. The younger ones build the floats using steel wire, cardboard, papier-mâché, and other materials that allow to create impressive sculptures. Several days before the parade, the floats are decorated with fresh dahlias.

Float construction takes place in large temporary tents that are put up in late May or early June. The volunteers have all summer to work on their floats, but the last three days before Bloemencorso Zundert always are the most stressful. The construction teams start decorating the floats with dahlias on the Thursday before the parade to keep the flowers fresh. Hundreds of people put pins through the stems so that the flowers can be pinned to the float. Each float is covered with thousands of flowers.

Building a float is a social event that brings people closer together. After long hours spent working on the float, people often go out for drinks together. Most hamlets organize social activities like barbecues or song contests. By the end of construction, everyone who’s worked on the float feels like a member of a huge family.

On the first Sunday of September, 20 magnificent platforms parade through Zundert. Bloemencorso Zundert is more than just a display, it’s a competition with a professional and independent jury that chooses the best float and crowns the hamlet that constructed it the winner of the year.