Light festival in Ghent: Meridiaan and For Youth as a bright example

Ghent’s light festival was a great success: around 835.000 people visited the city to witness the spectacle. To ensure a good organisation, the city asked many volunteers to help guide the visitors and aid with the event’s organization. To this call to action, Meridiaan and For Youth’s volunteers reacted with great enthusiasm, joining the program promptly.

On 31 January, Meridiaan’s volunteers acted as signallers, giving directions to the festival’s visitors. Despite the rigours of the weather, they provided help from 6 p.m. until midnight. The temperature was close to freezing point, but for the light festival, no effort was spared. One of the volunteers was already looking forward to following the festival’s tour the next day: “Today, I’m working here, but tomorrow I will surely enjoy the show as a participant, together with my family”.

This event has certainly proved the volunteers tough enough: some got sick from the bad weather, but all were extremely grateful for the experience.