There will be no new edition of Marialand. The festival in honour of the opening of the Maria Montessori building was supposed to take place last Thursday but was cancelled due to sever weather conditions. ‘This was already a postponed opening party.’

The long-awaited opening of the Maria Montessori building last Thursday was cancelled at the last minute. Reason were rain- and thunderstorms. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) first anticipated a code yellow, which was raised to code orange later in the day.

Heavy rainfall

Now it is clear that there will be no new edition of Marialand. ‘This was already a postponed opening party,’ Jacqueline Steinbusch of the social sciences faculty writes in an email. ‘The Maria Montessori building was officially opened on May 19, 2021, but due to the covid restrictions at the time no party could be held. That is why it is extra regrettable that this retry was also cancelled.’

How much the cancelled event will cost the faculty is still unclear. ‘We are still in talks about the costs,’ says Steinbusch.

Swampy

Even though a heavy thunderstorm passed over the campus before the party started and there was beautiful weather afterwards, the party still had to be cancelled due to safety concerns. The heavy rainfall in combination with the heavy winds caused damage to the festival terrain, according to a newsletter by the faculty.

The rain made the floors extremely slippery and the grass pitch between the Maria Montessori building and Lecture Halls Complex turned into a swamp. Because of this, setting up the food trucks and bar was no longer possible. Because of the severe weather, the extra power supplies failed to work and were no longer safe to use afterwards. The safety advisors of the organisation, as well as those of Radboud University, said the safety of festival employees and guests could no longer be guaranteed.

The family day on Friday, where around 250 employees and family members participated in experiments, demo’s and lectures in the Maria Montessori building, did go ahead.