Zinneke!
Welcome to the weekend of 30-31 May
Photo by Eddie Janssens - Wikiportrait, CC BY 3.0.
Welcome to Never Bored in Brussels with ideas for your family weekend. Save time with a weekly email listing what’s on in the Brussels area for multilingual kids and families.
Highlights this week
One of my favourite Brussels events, the Zinneke carnival parade, goes through Brussels city centre on Saturday afternoon. Zinneke is local dialect for mongrel, like most of us with ties to several places and the many people in Brussels who juggle at least two languages. The floats are crafted by local volunteers, many of them children (and it could be you next year!) They drum and sing through the streets and, on a sunny afternoon, it’s fun to watch and follow. Just pick a good street corner where your small child can see everything. This year’s theme is “Dream.”
Friday is the Fête des Voisins or neighbours’ day with lots of local street parties and festivals, often potlucks where you’re encouraged to bring your own food and drink to share with others. I’ve listed some below but not all, do check your local commune’s website for more. If you’re tempted to barbecue, read this on the Brussels rules: allowed in your own garden but you risk a fine in a public park.
Sunday is the Brussels 20K race. Happy running to anyone lucky enough to get a sold-out spot; a warning to drivers that avenues Louise and Tervuren and the rest of the route will be full of runners and blocked to traffic.
Schaerbeek opens its SKA cultural centre and inaugurates a new playground on Saturday. Jette’s environment festival includes the rare public opening of the urban farm. Koekelberg’s Elisabeth park and Watermael-Boitsfort’s Tounay-Solvay park have festivals, Kraainem has a circus family day and a circus school has an open day. A few Brussels building sites and Flemish archaeological sites also open to the public.
As always, links to those and many festivals, storytelling, open-door days (there’s a fire brigade again this week!), markets, theatre and concerts are for paid subscribers below. Since it’s summer and you might like to get out of town, I’m including any festivals elsewhere in Belgium that I think are worth the trip. If you go to see St George battling the dragon, I would love to hear about it.
Monday, 25 May
Ixelles BCT playgroup for 9-18m (for members).
City centre Quai de la Houille neighbors’ potluck.
Markets: Etterbeek Casernes, Volontaires & Bernheim.
Out of town: Enghien Greek Monday.
Verviers Chic-Chac street arts festival.
Tuesday, 26 May
Woluwe Chant d’Oiseau library robot-themed reading (FR) for 7-10y at 6pm.
St John’s International School virtual open day.
Wednesday, 27 May
ProVelo’s Vollenbike programme is running a free cycling parcours, cycling training for kids and tests of family bikes in Forest, Saint-Gilles and Watermael-Boitsfort.
Meditate at the museum (not for kids!)
Thursday, 28 May
Ligue des Familles online workshop on solo parents and new relationships (FR) at 8pm.
Friday, 29 May
Uccle Centre library teen book club (FR) at 5.30pm.
Critical Mass bike and skating parade from 6pm (not specifically for kids).
Wezembeek-Oppem the longest table potluck from 6pm.
Saint-Gilles Booma Club for women from 6.15pm.
