Events

In the dialect of Aalst, we call our town ‘Oilsjt’, tob e considered as a synonym of our world famous carnival. This unique and totally crazy three-day festival has been declared immaterial World Heritage. The genuine Oilsjt citizens will spend nearly a whole year preparing the float and costumes for the carnival parade, so you should at least once have seen and experienced our Carnival. If you’re not so lucky, you can always visit the carnival museum and the halls where they build and decorate the parade wagons.

Of course there is more than Carnival in Aalst: the after-tour criterium as a local closing event of the Tour de France, the Faluintjes Pikkeling harvest festival end of July, the ‘Cirk!’ festival in August, inviting many international circus artists and groups to perform on all squares in the city centre, the summer park concerts on Mondays, the Saint Martins fair on 11 November, and various other events and fairs. There’s always something going on in our lively city.