Loenhout (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Tomorrow, Sep 14, 2025, Loenhout near Wuustwezel hosts the Bloemencorso Loenhout. Nearly 4,000 volunteers, led by director Jef Bogarts, prepare massive 10-ton, flower-decorated floats for the annual parade.
As VRT News reported, prepare for a flower parade in Loenhout, near Wuustwezel, in the province of Antwerp, Belgium, that is scheduled for tomorrow, Sep 14, 2025. The municipality has around 4,500 inhabitants, while the municipality has about 4,000 volunteers engaged in getting everything ready.
“Almost everyone in Loenhout is participating,”
Says parade director Jef Bogarts. He’s in charge of directing the floats, but is also responsible for safety.
How are 4,000 volunteers preparing 10-ton floats for Loenhout Bloemencorso?
Floats at the parade are large and heavy. Each can weigh around 10 tons, depending on size and design. They can reach 9 meters in height, 20 meters in length, and 5 meters in width. Floral decorations also add weight.
On average, each float carries 250 to 300 flower boxes, each weighing 4.5 kilograms. This adds roughly 1,350 kilograms to the total load. Volunteers must move and guide the floats, handling the combined weight of the structure and flowers, demonstrating the scale and effort involved in the event.
When it rains, the flower floats become even heavier as the petals and stems soak up water, adding extra strain for the teams moving them. Yesterday, Sep 12, 2025, each neighbourhood received symbolic keys to the municipality, marking the official start of the preparations.
“One year, it was stormy, and we were pushing the cart. It didn’t make any progress at all. Especially on Kapelstraat, where it’s a bit uphill, it was a struggle,”
Jef says from personal experience.
Volunteers are assigned specific tasks to ensure the floats are ready on time. Some add flowers, some put in pins, and some also wrap the floats in paper to protect the designs or further enhance them. Each neighbourhood has 300 – 400 people, so there are about 4,000 volunteers altogether. One participant said,
“I’m glad we’re finally getting this done; it’s quite unique in Belgium.”
The Flower Parade Loenhout, known in Dutch as “Bloemencorso Loenhout”, has a long tradition, which began in 1936. It is held every September, and is one of the best-known flower parades in Belgium, with several tens of thousands of visitors coming from all over Belgium and further afield.
Every year, neighbours and local organisations compete to create the best float, which can take months of preparation. Over the years, the event has grown, with floats eventually reaching dimensions of 20m long and 9m high with tens of thousands of dahlias and other floral arrangements.
