In pictures: Redheads celebrate fiery locks at Dutch festival

Hundreds of redheads from around the world have gathered in the southern Dutch town of Tilburg for an annual festival celebrating their amber locks.

Aug 29, 2023 - 09:36
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Natural redheads from countries including the UK, Israel, Germany, Italy and New Zealand made the trip for the three-day event, which organisers Redhead Days say is all about "connection, pride and recognition".

Peet Montzingo is crowd surfed by redheads at the festivalREUTERS
Internet personality Peet Montzingo, who describes himself on Instagram as a "ginger with a soul", was seen surfing through the crowd at the event
A child with freckles and blue eyes stares into the cameraREUTERS
A crowd of people with red hair look up into the camera at the festivalREUTERS

The festival was founded in 2005 by Bart Rouwenhorst who, rather surprisingly, is blond.

The amateur painter found himself drawn to the aesthetic qualities of redheads, so advertised for 15 ginger models to paint - only to be deluged with 150 responses.

They were all photographed - but when many of those who did not get selected voiced their disappointment, Mr Rouwenhorst decided to make an annual event of it.

A man shows off his ginger beard at the festivalREUTERS
A red-haired woman stands in a crowd with her dogREUTERS

In 2013, Redhead Days festival-goers made it into the Guinness Book of World Records when 1,672 people got together in the largest recorded gathering of people with natural red hair.

Bryan, 21, looks at a woman, 20, both of whom are from GermanyREUTERS
Marc, 34, from Limburg area, and Rhen, 30, from Rotterdam (originally from US) pose in front of a wall showing different hair coloursREUTERS
Festival-goers were able to compare their hair against a wall of colour, from "pumpkin" to "Vincent" to "guinea pig"