Kwaku Summer Festival

Name: Kwaku Summer Festival
Start: 2023-07-15T00:00:00
End: 2023-08-05T00:00:00
Location: Nelson Mandelapark

The Kwaku Summer Festival is a grand celebration of cultural diversity and identity in the Zuidoost district, with culture, sports and food as the most important forms of expression and where broad (social) participation and the Surinamese origins are the most important pillars. The Nelson Mandela Park in Amsterdam Zuidoost is all about culture, music, dance, food and drink every summer for four weekends during the Kwaku Summer Festival. PLEASE NOTE: The dates and times for 2023 need to be confirmed.

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From football tournament to festival

Kwakoe started in 1975 as a small-scale football tournament to provide youth in the Bijlmermeer who could not go on holiday with a nice summer. Kwaku soon grew into a competition where not only football was played, but where food and drink played an important role. The festival is best known for its atmosphere and besides football, there are many other activities such as debates, lectures, dance workshops, beauty pageants and music performances.

Kwaku Summer Festival is one of the larger festivals in the Netherlands and one of the largest events in Amsterdam, attracting around 300,000 visitors every year. The festival brings cultures together and provides a beautiful whole of performances, dance, film, music and of course football.

Flavours galore

The large number of stalls with food and drink is one of the major draws for many visitors. Here you can order the tastiest exotic drinks, Surinamese spare ribs, spicy Korean tacos and other Asian, African, Caribbean and South American dishes.

Pink Kwaku

Kwaku turns pink on the last Sunday in July. Pink Sunday is known as one of the most extravagant days of the Kwaku Summer Festival, where LGBTIQ+ and straight crowds come for a cultural spectacle. It should therefore come as no surprise that the Roze Kwaku event is part of the Amsterdam Pride programming. Check out the Kwaku Summer Festival website for tickets and more information.