Fokko (68) and Trea (57) from Sneek are moved to tears when they receive a ribbon. ‘We want to make Sneek more fun’

Until after midnight on Thursday, Fokko and Trea Dam were at a party organized by LUS (Lui Uut Sneek), the tearjerker choir of which the couple themselves are the initiators. They already knew that sleeping in was not an option. Grandpa and grandma had to get up early to watch their granddaughter’s King’s Games.

That’s what they thought. Instead, the couple received a royal award from mayor Jannewietske de Vries in their home restaurant Onder De Linden. Trea had a small suspicion. “We will get a ribbon today for the same money,” she thought. “I told Fokko to put on his jacket just to be safe, but he didn’t want to.”

The Sneker couple receives the award for their many years of commitment to the city, especially in the musical field. Organizing, making music and celebrating. ,, It’s in your blood “, said the mayor in Snekers. “Your initiatives make Sneek lively and visible.”

Volunteer work

Fokko started as a volunteer instructor at Jong Advendo and drum band Hallelujah in Makkum in the 1970s. Like ‘Fokko with the signs’, he was the face of the Blauhúster Dakkapel. Although many people will also know him as one half of party singer duo De Zware Jongens. This also resulted in a few songs about Sneek Week.

Trea did a lot of work for the carnival association De Oeletoeters and, together with her husband, also enjoys organizing parties. From the Sneeker Mop Day and the tear-jerker festival to the Christmas parade and the festive meeting of all the carnival princes from above the rivers.

“We want to make Sneek more fun,” Trea explains their commitment to the city. “Then we see something nice and we think it would be nice to bring it to Sneek. For us, everything revolves around music.”

Special meeting

A royal award is therefore not what they have been aiming for all these years. “I’m not really into it, but I am still impressed,” says Fokko, who, like his wife, was visibly emotional. “The fact that all these people are here for us and that Trea gets the ribbon makes me emotional.”

The festive moment reminds Fokko of his – in his own words – special meeting with Willem Alexander in 2002. The king had invited the Blauhúster Dakkapel to play at his bachelor party in the reception hall of Madurodam. “I told him he could do the signs. It became one big party. We were supposed to play for fifteen minutes, but it ended up being three.”