Later I can tell my children that I stood at the bottom of the canal! Together with Rijkswaterstaat and many of our cooperation partners, we opened the Juliana Canal to visitors on Saturday, February 8. Young, old, colleagues, interested parties and especially a lot of local residents visited the project this day. Over 3,600 pairs of feet walked on the ground this day! We like to look back! ‘Thousands of photos, 3,600 enthusiastic visitors and lots of ‘ohhhhh’. Aided by the sun that broke through, the open day at the Juliana Canal can go in the books as a great success. In this article we look back and say: fortunately we still have the pictures. A walk across the bottom of the Juliana Canal is something you do only once in a lifetime. After this work, the canal will be able to withstand at least another 100 years. It was therefore not surprising that the free tickets flew over the counter like hot cakes. Stories come to life. Many local residents have a special bond with the canal. At the bottom of the canal, memories surfaced. Anecdotes about ancestors who helped excavate the canal in 1925 to memories of the winter of 1963. When it was possible to skate. Saturday memories were also made. Pictures of children climbing the big machines went into the (digital) scrapbooks. One of the funniest statements came from 12-year-old Karsten. He thought it was “super cool” to see how deep the canal is. He said, “Later I can tell my kids I stood at the bottom of the canal! Publicity was plentiful Saturday. The Limburger and NRC published extensive coverage. And those who turned on the TV in the evening could see themselves in the NOS News, in Hart van Nederland and on L1. Writer and playwright Paulien Cornelisse apparently watched the news as well. The open day became inspiration for her column in the Volkskrant:

Paulien Cornelisse – Volkskrant.