For the first time, the Holland Festival in Long Beach and the annual Kingsday Celebration combined forces and got together in Gemmrig Park for a great Indo/orange celebration. Indo International was there.
By Vivian Boon // photos: Ashley de Groot
Jeff Keasberry
The motor behind the festivities. Popped up everywhere all day. Helping out with tents that were not set up, handing out chocolates, giving away prizes in a quiz and taking selfies with friends. What he was looking forward to most? ‘Monday’, he laughs. ‘This festival has been around for 33 years, it’s all about friends and families, different generations coming together. When you see all the smiling faces, that makes it all worthwhile.’
Orange
Can’t do Kingsday without orange. And if you didn’t have any orange to wear, there was plenty of Dutch and Indo stuff to get a hold of at the festival.
Patience
No food without plenty of patience. The wait for satay was at least an hour. But the reward was worth it. Herring, poffertjes, oliebollen, appelflappen and kroketten – people couldn’t get enough.
Consul general
Dirk Janssen, spoke at the opening of the festival. ‘When I came to Southern California I did not know that there was such a large Indo community here. I am from The Hague in the Netherlands where there are a great many Indos and they make me feel at home here. The history of this community is very interesting. The story of how they ended up here is not only a positive history – many people did not feel welcome in The Netherlands and then moved to the USA. That is quite a journey and it makes their story unique. It is wonderful to see how tight this community is.’
No Poco Poco?
We figured: we’re in the USA, there’s country music and there are Indos. so let’s get ready to poco poco. People did hit the dancefloor, but no poco poco! Next time we will step away from our booth and take the lead, if we can muster up the courage.
Ngobrol
When hundreds of Indos get together, there’s a lot of ngobrol. Families drove out to meet up today, bringing their folding chairs to sit, eat and chat. We saw a lot of old friends meet up, new friends being made.
Next Gen
First, second, third, fourth… all generations could be found at the festival today. Making this day not only about bringing the Indo community together, but also about passing on traditions to the next generations.
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Comments
Love the photos and the summary of the day! It was a wonderful day! Now to look forward to next year!!!
It was the first time the weather was cooler than usual, thanks to the change in date, being so close to the ocean, with a marine layer moving in late in the afternoon. It did not dim our enthusiasm for the event. Meeting up again with long time friends & acquaintances after such a long absence was priceless! Thank you for including the photo of my son Donovan Juwono, and his son (my cucu,) Colton (in the SoCal Indo shirt, and wearing matching rubber spiked hats,) Donovan has been to several Holland fests, and was very proud and excited to bring his son for his very first time experience of his heritage. It was so much fun! I’m the immigrant, my son the first generation Indo-American, and his son the second generation Indo-American, with a bit more campur-campur mixed in. Happy & proud to show our roots! Tot weer ziens! Sampai ketemu lagi, see you next!!!
Great article and photo’s Vivian and Ashley.
Next year , I’ll make sure your I get your booth right 😊
It was great meeting you both
Wat een leuke reportage is dit zeg! Gezien het weer was het een beetje koeler dan normaal in socal maar ik heb wel genoten van alle gesprekken en mensen.