Thousands of redheads celebrate their strands at a festival in the Netherlands

By Molly Quell | Associated Press

TILBURG, Netherlands — The southern Dutch city of Tilburg is seeing more color than usual this weekend, as thousands of redheads from all over the world gather in the Netherlands for a once-a-year festival to celebrate their flaming locks.

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The 2025 edition of the Redhead Days festival includes music, food trucks and workshops tailored to the particular needs of redheads, from makeup explainers to skin cancer prevention.

Organizers expect the three-day event to draw several thousand attendees from some 80 countries.

Elounda Bakker, a Dutch festival veteran of 15 years, played cards with a group of redheaded friends from across the world who meet together every year at the festival.

“I came out of curiosity mostly, just to see what it would be like not to stand out in the crowd,” said Bakker, 29. “It was really an interesting first experience and I just keep coming because I met some really nice friends here.”

Magician Daniel Hank traveled six hours from Germany to join the festivities, now proud to flaunt the hair that made him the target of bullying when younger.

“I think it’s really easy to recognize me because there are not that many people with a red beard, there are not many guys with long red hair,” he said.

The festival is free and open to all, with the exception of the group photo on Sunday. That event is restricted to “natural” redheads.

The 2013 edition set a Guinness World Record for the “largest gathering of people with natural red hair” with 1,672 people posing for the group photo.

The tradition emerged two decades ago when Dutch artist Bart Rouwenhorst put out a call for 15 red-haired models for an art project in a local newspaper. He got ten times the response he was expecting and brought the group together for a photo.

The project got so much attention, Rouwenhorst organized a similar meetup the following year and has continued to oversee the festival as it has expanded into the multiday event it is today.

“The festival is really amazing because all the people, they resemble each other and they feel like it’s a family,” he said.

Follow AP’s coverage of Europe at https://apnews.com/hub/europe