De Splinter play park in Eindhoven has closed its gates. Just now that the weather has been beautiful, the fun has been spoiled a bit. It was too busy. Too hot. Grim, even. So the volunteers sit at home in shock and the park is looking for a solution.
Of course you want to go out with the children when the weather is nice. So if there is a free play park around the corner, one and one makes two. Playpark de Splinter can accommodate 3,000 visitors on a good day. “But we were over that on Wednesday around twelve o’clock,” says employee Monique Staps.
That was unlike other years. In fact, the pool wasn’t even open yet. “So we were surprised,” she continues. “We just checked at the door. Every time someone went out, other people were allowed back in.” And the staff kept that up for a while.
Until the tension rose. The heat started to press and more and more people arrived, discussions arose, parents became impatient and did not understand why it was taking so long. “It no longer felt safe. The atmosphere even became a bit grim.”
“Our people were really shocked.”
This manifested itself in bickering and unabashed brutality. “Normally smoking is not allowed in the park, but now people suddenly did. You know how that goes, out of irritation,” Monique gives as an example. “Our people were really shocked.”
Now the staff, which largely consists of volunteers, is at home in shock. The park is closed because they don’t want the same song at the gate again. “It is not responsible to open now. Even the people who were there said it was no longer fun.”
“So we look at it day by day. We are looking for a solution and talking to the municipality,” she explains. One option is to raffle a number of tickets in advance, for example via Facebook. This way everyone gets their turn. “Of course it has to remain fun. And free, of course.”
