The official Opening Ceremony of the 2017 CHIO Aachen took place yesterday evening (Tuesday, July 18th) in the Main Stadium at Soers and was, as always, an impressively colourful start to the event.
Each year since 2001 a different partner country has brought their own ‘colour’ to the CHIO Aachen and this year everything is going to be “oranje” at the Soers as The Netherlands is the partner country
The Netherlands is just the width of an oxer away from Aachen, lying directly on the border triangle, where the three nations Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium meet. Typical Dutch specialities such as numerous types of cheeses, poffertjes, vla, frikandeln and matjes are well-known beyond its borders and the Dutch advertising icon “Frau Antje”, a female character created specifically to promote the export of Dutch cheese, is a recognisable brand world-wide
A Frau Antje on a Friesan!
The celebrations with the partner country begin well before the opening ceremony starts. A delegation of guests from the Netherlands was met at the historic Aachen market place on Monday and the shops in Aachen all vie for the prize for the best shop window dressing to welcome and fete the partner country
Then the Dutch theme continued in the Opening Ceremony with not only black Friesians with their long, flowing manes putting in appearances in the Main Stadium, but also the Dutch advertising icon “Frau Antje” and some magnificent carriages from the Dutch royal family’s collection accompanied by Dutch guards of honour and mounted drummers
The traditional welcome to the participating nations, the presentation of the partner country and the entertaining show programme made it yet again a great start to one of the best equestrian shows in the world and explains why hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the Soers year after year. Because they share a passion - the horse - and they want to spend an unforgettable time here ........
