Sint-Niklaas (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Peace Festival in Sint-Niklaas will run from September 4-7, 2025 to celebrate the city’s liberation. Alderman Benabdellah wants to engage youth with exhibits, workshops, and balloon events on the Grote Markt.
The Peace Festival is celebrated annually in September to commemorate the liberation of the city and celebrate peace. The festival this year will run from September 4th to 7th, 2025. The organisers want to inform people why the festival exists, and more so, the youth who may not be aware of its background. They mentioned that they would ask questions to help people understand the festival’s meaning and its connection to the city’s past.
Benabdellah says,
War is a current theme at the moment. So it is good to reflect on the liberation of our city.
Why is the Sint-Niklaas Peace Festival expanding in 2025?
According to the officials, the Peace Festival will have many activities to teach people about peace and freedom. They will have exhibits, workshops, performances, and discussions. They will use stories, pictures, and people who remember the past.
They said that this will make individuals realize why the festival is essential and how it makes us united and peaceful. Although there are ongoing wars in the world, the Peace Festival provides individuals with an opportunity to unite and work towards a brighter future.
We noticed that during the preparations. The event has lost its identity among young people in recent years,
Benabdellah says.
The city is still planning the extra day of the Peace Festival, and they’ll make the final decisions in a few months. But Alderman Benabdellah has already mentioned some of the main things they’ll do.
According to Alderman, one big part of the festival will be balloons. They think balloons are a good way to show freedom and peace. They’ll have big groups of balloons, let people send balloons into the air, and have games with balloons.
The Peace Festival wants kids to be part of it. They’ll work with schools and groups to get kids involved. They want kids to come to the festival and help make it happen. They mentioned that this will help kids learn why peace is important. The city also wants each part of the festival to be different. They’ll have different kinds of music and themes in each area.
Alderman Benabdellah said,
We also plan to give each square in the city its own identity.
Different music genres and themes, for example. That way, all the squares will come into their own.
They’ve been renovating the city’s central square, known as Grote Markt, in Sint-Niklaas. Just in time for the Peace Festival, the whole area will be fixed up. The square is a special part of the city, and the people of Sint-Niklaas hold an important balloon festival here.
Authorities mentioned that this event is unique because it’s the only world festival where balloons are fired from a marketplace square. The Grote Markt will be ready for the balloon festival, which is one of the first events of the Peace Festival.
