The many guests of Smukfest fill the town: Clara spends an extra two hours picking up her son

Indland ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland )

****************************************************************************************

*Smukfest's many guests fill the town:* Clara spends two extra hours picking up her son

****************************************************************************************

Several locals experience inconveniences during the Smukfest festival in Skanderborg, which has around 60,000 visitors per day. Mayor Frands Fischer (Social Democrats) says the traffic plan must be evaluated after the festival.

Thousands of people are partying in Bøgeskoven, but Smukfest creates challenges for several locals in Skanderborg. (Photo: © Mikkel Berg Pedersen, Ritzau Scanpix) 52 minutes ago

Smukfest is in full swing, and Bøgeskoven is filled with happy guests and loud music.

But they also fill other places in Skanderborg. According to Smukfest, there are around 60,000 visitors per day including volunteers, and for some residents of Skanderborg, this makes everyday life difficult.

Therefore, Social Democratic city council member Andreas Tang-Brock created a Facebook post inviting citizens to share the challenges the festival creates.

The post has so far received over 160 comments, many of which are about long traffic queues and road diversions that make it difficult to shop, get to work, or get to the doctor.

------------------------------------

Everyday routines become a challenge

------------------------------------

One of those who has had some tough days this week is 29-year-old Clara Sørensen. She works in Horsens, but her one-year-old son has just started at the daycare Skovhuset, which is located on the edge of Bøgeskoven.

This week, it takes up to two hours to pick him up in the afternoon because there are so many road diversions that she is forced to drive through the city.

So according to her, it is really an uphill battle to pick up her son and get home.

- When we get out to the forest, it's a huge chaos filled with people. It's difficult to park and turn around at our daycare because there are both staff bars set up and people coming and going.

At SuperBrugsen in Skanderborg, they are also tired of traffic queues and congestion.

Søren Stoltenberg has mixed feelings about Smukfest. It brings extra customers to the store, but at the same time creates logistical hassle. Photo: © Amalie Holst Jensen

Store manager Søren Stoltenberg is happy about the festival guests, but at the same time, it takes a very long time to get goods delivered.

- It's a couple of kilometers from the highway to us, and normally it doesn't take that long, but this week it has taken up to an hour for the drivers, and that can create challenges, he says.

--------------------

Missing being heard

--------------------

Clara Sørensen and Søren Stoltenberg agree that they are happy with what Smukfest does for the town, but they miss that Skanderborg Municipality and the festival take more consideration of residents' everyday lives.

- The dialogue with the politicians should start a bit before the festival begins, says Søren Stoltenberg.

Skanderborg's mayor, Frands Fischer (Social Democrats), understands that the festival can frustrate some citizens.

He points out that the municipality this year has implemented new traffic measures in cooperation with the police, emergency services, and Smukfest, and among other things, the one-way system on some roads has been changed.

- It may be that it was the wrong way to do it. That is certainly something we need to evaluate, says Frands Fischer.

At Smukfest, content director Trine Bang says the festival is aware that it takes up space in Skanderborg, but that the festival informs citizens before, during, and after the festival, and that it cannot be avoided that a festival with around 60,000 daily visitors can be experienced as a nuisance for some.

Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=undefined )

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.