Bart Rouwenhorst, the current festival director, is a Sunday painter. In 2005, he was preparing an exhibition in Asten and was looking for 15 red-haired models. With the help of an advertisement in the Brabants Dagblad, he received not 15 models, but 150!

Because Bart has trouble saying no, he offered to have all the models meet in Asten for a group photo. The meeting was remarkable: redheads from Groningen (in the north of the Netherlands) met redheads from Limburg (in the south), and it felt like a huge family gathering.

The national press (Hart van Nederland) was also present. Afterward, many redheads asked Bart to organize a second meeting.

Bart was living in Breda at the time and, together with friends, neighbors, family, and enthusiastic café owners, planned the second festival. It was attended by 500 redheads. In the years that followed, the festival grew and even earned a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records with 1,672 redheads in a single photo.

This group photo has become THE festival’s biggest event. It’s taken every year (with the exception of 2020, when the festival was canceled due to COVID-19). The redheads in attendance dress in a predetermined color. Since 2019, the festival has moved to Tilburg, a city experiencing significant innovation and where the festival hopes to grow even bigger.
Below is an overview per location, including the year and color.

Group photos of the editions in Tilburg

Group photos of the editions in Breda