Pony Talk > Off Topic

Dutch members - tell me about King's Day flea markets!

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Loona:
I am the type of toy collector who mostly enjoys finding her collectibles out in the wild, it never excites me as much to search for them&buy them off eBay. As a result, I love flea markets where people sell second-hand everyday stuff from their homes rather than vintage stuff/antiques (oh how I miss some of the flea markets of Helsinki :( ). For this reason I've always wanted to visit the all-around-the-country flea market extravaganza that happens on King's Day in The Netherlands. This year we decided to visit - things aren't going well currently*, so in the end we might not make it, but I thought I'd still gather information, because if we can't manage to visit during this year, I'd definitely love to next year, and the information will still be useful then  ^.^

*I won't rant here, but my father keeps on making sure we cannot go because of his carelessness... long story short: we were to go together by car, but it turns out he forgot to tell he and his girlfriend want to go earlier during the month, and they already booked plain tickets. He told us we can take the car and go with my husband, but now it turns out he also promised the car to my sister for that weekend...

We don't have a specific city in mind that we would like to stay at, we plan to spend 4-5 days there and travel to major cities with the car - therefore we can choose which city to spend this particular day at. Do you have any recommendation on which city would be the best to visit during this day with thrifting goals? If there are any, could you please also recommend me specific places (areas, squares, cities) that are the best to check out? Will this event only be taking place on the 27th, or also through the weekend?

I would mainly be looking to find G1&G2 ponies, Furbies (Dutch Furbies! I think I only have one so far *wishful eyes* :inlove: ) and (non-vintage) fashion dolls and doll stuff (like clothes, furniture, car, accessories), and I'm also always on the lookout for tiny female wristwatches (the recent ones with the huge dials look super weird on my tiny wrists, but older ones used to come in smaller sizes).

Thanks to everyone who can help - any tips are welcome! :)

Barnacle_lady:
Hey there, cool that you want to visit my country on most ponyhunting day of the year :) And its only one day the 27th of April. Next year the 26th because of Sunday no events day.
Basically the whole of Netherlands is one huge fleamarket that day. So practically every village and city has fleamarkets. There is no saying which city has the most chance on ponies. Every year its a surprise who finds what, thats the fun part.The one city I advise not to go this year is Amersfoort. The King and the royal family will be doing a tour over there and due to security reasons there will be less fleamarket options. And keep in mind it could be a hard time to park the car.
If you need more info let me know :)

Loona:
Thanks a lot for the reply Barnacle_lady! :hug: That's a good tip about Amersfoort, as well as about parking the car. My husband is not a fan of driving inside cities, so even if we will have a car with us, most likely we would leave it at the accommodation and use public transport.

So, does this mean that people may basically "sit down" and sell anywhere they want to, or are there certain areas in cities (e.g. squares, certain streets, parking places) designated for these acivities (and if there are, are these listed anywhere)? Another thing I was wondering about: what happens if the weater is rainy, are people still out, or are the flea markets moved to covered areas (like sports halls), or cancelled?

Barnacle_lady:
You're welcome :)
Yes public transport is your best friend that day. Trains go mostly their usual route but trams and buses might avoid the busy areas. So take good walking shoes.

Hell yes about the fleamarkets :) A lot of people will sit in front of their house selling stuff, you know garage sale style. But other people are taking their stuff to another street or park and go sell their stuff over and some areas are designated for children only.
Ofcourse safety has to be kept in mind, so that emergency services can reach places if needed. So its not allowed to sell literally everywhere. All this info can be found online on their local website. And if you are on your way most local people can also help you where to find the nearest fleamarket/selling area.

What about the weather? Rain or shine, the party is still on. I put a raining coat on, take an umbrella along and just moving on. For those who are selling stuff its their own choice if they want to sit in the rain but most of them arrange a tent if they know its going to be rainy. After all its one day in a year only to have such opportunity :) Cancelling will only happen in extreme weather conditions and its mostly the large crowd activities like concerts/party that go first. Kings day is not only flea markets but also live music in most areas, children doing tricks to earn money and that kind of stuff.
So nothing to worry if the weather is not sunny that day.

lovesbabysquirmy:
It sounds like such a fun way to holiday and pony hunt!

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