Kwaku Summerfestival

Kwakoe began in 1975 as a small-scale football tournament among the high-rise buildings of Bijlmermeer. The original initiators, Chas Warning, Roy Groenberg, also known as Kaikusi, Guno Bakboord, and Emile Esajas, patriarch of the famous “Esa Boys,” aimed to provide a pleasant summer for the youth who couldn’t go on vacation. The tournament’s name quickly spread beyond the city limits through word of mouth. Football teams from all over the Netherlands traveled to the Vogeltjeswei in Bijlmer to not only enjoy the often thrilling competition but also to meet and socialize over dishes like bami, blood sausage, and fladder. Today, Kwakoe has become a well-known name.

Under the inspiring leadership of Winston Kout, Kwakoe expanded in the 1990s into the mega-event that is now an essential part of the annual festival calendar.

Today, the Kwakoe Festival offers much more than just football. The event has a wide range of activities on its program: music performances, sports, food, beauty pageants, a literature prize, debates, and lectures. But one thing remains constant—the famous Kwakoe atmosphere. This unique vibe keeps the festival thriving, regardless of the increasing number of festivals, negative publicity, or bad weather.

The Kwaku Summer Festival is a grand celebration of cultural diversity and identity in the Zuidoost district, with culture, sports, and food as its main forms of expression. It promotes broad (social) participation, with Surinamese heritage being one of the festival’s core pillars.