Summer Carnival

Zomercarnaval 2007

The Summer Carnaval (Dutch:Zomercarnaval) is a yearly event in Rotterdam and Arnhem that mimics the Carnaval of South- Latin-America and the Cape Verde Islands. In the cold, Dutch climate Carnival often is held in the winter. This climate doesn't lend itself for celebrating carnival in the Latin-American and Cape Verde manner. The Summer Carnival offers them an opportunity to still celebrate. The Arnhem Rio on the Rhine attracted more than 150.000 visitors, while the Rotterdam event attracts nearly a million visitors yearly. Summer Carnaval is often compared to Karneval der Kulturen (Berlin) and Notting Hill Carnival (London).

Zomercarnaval Rotterdam

The first edition was held on August 4, 1984 in Rotterdam. From 2004 to 2007 the event attracted around 900.000 visitors.

Although the street parade attracts the most visitors the Zomercarnaval is a multiple-day event. A week prior to the street parade the new Queen is elected in the official Zomercarnaval Queen Election. On the Thursday after the election the Zomercarnaval Beach Party is held at the Stand aan de Maas, a small beach created in the city center of Rotterdam. Several brass bands and DJ's show up and the newly chosen Queen is also present. On Friday evenening the Battle of Drums is held, an event in which several brass bands compete each other to be named the official Zomercarnaval brass band and earn a spot in the parade they day after as well as the Notting Hill Carnival in London. The preliminaries for the Battle of Drums were held at the Dunya Festival in Rotterdam. The street parade which is always held on Saturday shows brass bands and thousands of dansers. It all started relatively small in 1984 when it was named the Antillian Summer Carnival. Year after year more and more people got interested, including people with other roots, which resulted in the name change to Zomercarnaval. During and after the street parade there are two live on stage concerts at the Coolsingel and the Churchillplein until late in the evening.

In 2007 the Rotterdam carnival made a coalition with the Notting Hill Carnival for exchange of brass and steel bands.

Queens

Queen Rotterdam 2006

Queen Rotterdam 2007

• 2005: Imara Thomas
• 2006: Katy Cedeño Manzanillo

Katy Cedeño Manzanillo was chosen to be the Queen of the 2006 Zomercarnaval in the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal on July 17, 2006. She is from Dominican descent and was part of the Grupo Carnaval Dominicano. In total eight contestants participated in the Queen Election, in which Lamya M'Haidra of Carnaval & Friends and Maria Elizabeth Kooij Martinez of Colores Latinos became second and third.

• 2007: Marcie de Jongh

Originally from Aruba Marcie de Jongh was chosen as the Queen of the 2007 Zomercarnaval. Again the election was held in the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal. She was part of the Kingdoms under the Sun Group from Amsterdam. The election was different than in other years where the candidates showed their skills in several rounds of various clothing types. This time they had to excel in communication and flair. Seven candidates challenged for the title. Behind De Jongh the second spot was for Diandra Bramble of Aruba Uni She lost with only 0,03 percent of the votes. Fabienne Kadirbaks of Caribbean Jewels won the third spot.

Diandra Bramble 1st Runner Up Queen 2007

External links

• Official website Summer Carnival -Rotterdam
• Official website Rio on the Rhine -Arnhem