Roller parade for 4 months!

Roller skating enthusiasts will be able to stop champing at the bit. The roller parade season is back! Better yet, the famous Friday evening summer event will see its season last twice as long. This third edition will indeed start on June 4 and will extend until September 25. A way to respond to the frustration of many roller fans, especially last year, when several rides had to be canceled due to rain. And then, this year, we are also celebrating an anniversary... "We are celebrating the bicentennial of the invention of the roller skate by Joseph Merlin from Huy," specifies the organizer Carl de Moncharline. Huy, where a roller parade will be organized in June. Other changes are planned for the Brussels parades. First, the starting point is once again Place Poelaert and the start has been moved up by an hour. "A warm-up is scheduled from 7 p.m. and the start will be at 8 p.m." Then, the route will undoubtedly be more varied. "The ride should be between 20 and 25 kilometers and we should pass through other municipalities than Brussels and Ixelles." While no registration is necessary and the ride is completely free, two conditions must be met. First, to have a minimum of training and... to know how to brake. Then, and this is a novelty... "By law, each participant will have to wear a light." The kind you see more and more on the back of bicycles. As always, the procession will be preceded and followed by police cars while the police roller team will supervise and "secure" the rides. In total, the roller parades organized throughout the country would have drawn some 100,000 people last year. A figure that should be "boosted" this year. Notably with the parades organized in Ostend (in July) and Coxyde (in August). Photo caption: The Friday night roller parade resumes on June 4.