{"id":7330,"date":"2026-05-11T15:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/bestuur-organisatie\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns\/sint\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T14:31:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:31:04","slug":"sint","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/en\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns\/sint\/","title":{"rendered":"St"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-acfblock=\"Tekst\" class=\"section a section--green-lighter e-tekst\">\r\n\t<div class=\"container\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"row justify-content-center elementOnTop\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col article-content__content-custom-1220 editor elementOnTop\">\r\n<p>He\u2019s back in the country, Father Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend, St Nicholas didn\u2019t just arrive on Texel; he then travelled on to Apeldoorn, Beekbergen and Ugchelen. Together with the children\u2019s mayor, Madalie, I welcomed him \u2013 along with all his helpers, of course. It\u2019s always a real treat to be there; there\u2019s so much fun and a lovely atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>And although it\u2019s originally, of course, a children\u2019s celebration, it always keeps adults busy too, in keeping with tradition. We\u2019re all getting properly excited by that fantastic Sinterklaasjournaal. We do miss Dieuwertje Blok, of course, but even without her it\u2019s a joy to watch. (And thanks to the little pendant with the letter D around the new presenter\u2019s neck, she\u2019s still there in spirit, in a way.)<\/p>\n<p>I think Sinterklaas is a perfect example of a tradition that moves with the times and, precisely because of that, remains valuable. And thanks to all those volunteers (a huge thank you to you all!) who help make it such a big celebration, it really does belong to everyone. I know that Sinterklaas is losing ground to Father Christmas, but it\u2019s precisely that involvement from everyone \u2013 from schools to business associations and from sports clubs to care homes \u2013 that makes Sinterklaas such a special celebration after all.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, it might sound a bit sickly (like marzipan),<\/p>\n<p>But Sinterklaas can help remind us that the little things are valuable too. The little poems, the surprise gifts, the songs. And the excitement on the faces of the (grand)children when there\u2019s a knock at the door.<\/p>\n<p>I wish you all a very enjoyable St Nicholas\u2019 Day!<\/p>\n<p>Ton Heerts<\/p>\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<div data-acfblock=\"Afbeeldingen-enkel\" class=\"section editor section--green-lighter\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row justify-content-center editor__wide-image elementOnTop\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"col-12 col-lg-10 editor__image-container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<picture>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ton-portret-nieuwer.jpg\" alt=\" \"\/>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/picture>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption>\r\nTon Heerts. Photo: Robin Fotografie\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div data-acfblock=\"Lijstblok-type-1\" class=\"section section--green-lighter\">\r\n  <div class=\"container\">\r\n    <div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\r\n      <div class=\"col-12 col-lg-11 elementOnTop\">\r\n        <div class=\"editor__content-block editor__white-content-block\">\r\n<div class=\"editor\">\r\n<h2>Be sure to read the other columns too<\/h2>\r\n<p>Mayor Ton Heerts writes a regular column. Why not have a read?<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"button button--arrow-right\" href=\"\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns-burgemeester\">Columns by the mayor<\/a><\/p>\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":5278,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"bestuur-standaard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","ep_exclude_from_search":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"folder":[],"class_list":["post-7330","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.1 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Column Sint | Gemeente Apeldoorn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lees de column &#039;Sint&#039; van burgemeester Ton Heerts van Apeldoorn. In deze column deelt hij zijn persoonlijke visie op dit onderwerp.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/en\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns\/sint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sint\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lees de column &#039;Sint&#039; van burgemeester Ton Heerts van Apeldoorn. In deze column deelt hij zijn persoonlijke visie op dit onderwerp.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/en\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns\/sint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Apeldoorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gemeenteapeldoorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T12:31:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gemeente-apeldoorn.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.apeldoorn.nl\\\/en\\\/college-van-b-en-w\\\/collegeleden\\\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\\\/columns\\\/sint\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.apeldoorn.nl\\\/en\\\/college-van-b-en-w\\\/collegeleden\\\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\\\/columns\\\/sint\\\/\",\"name\":\"Column Sint | Gemeente Apeldoorn\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.apeldoorn.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T12:45:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-02T12:31:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Lees de column &#039;Sint&#039; van burgemeester Ton Heerts van Apeldoorn. 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