The 11th Love Bugs Parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival in Brussels

9 February 2019 Admin BE

It was 50 years ago, in a field in the vicinity of a small town in the State of New York, USA: Woodstock.

A music festival, organised in homage to Bob Dylan, was to experience an unforeseeable crowd and up until then never equalled (50,000 persons were expected – half a million attended!), at the root of a true phenomenon which fifty years later is still being spoken about, all generations mixed.

That year Neil Amstrong, for the first time in history set foot on the moon. That year, the VW Bugs and Combis were already getting around; favourite mode of transport of the festival-goers of all kinds and the globe-trotters. The “Love Bug” film had already made this charming little car famous – and almost human. Since then it has become one of the symbols of the amorous.

Today there are more than 700 Buggies left in Belgium. During the month of February Autoworld will be exhibiting a dozen or so Belgian Buggies.

The 11th Love Bugs Parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival

Faithful to its tradition, the Autoworld museum in Brussels is organising, with the support of the Volkswagen make, its 11^th Love Bugs Parade on the Sunday preceding Saint Valentine’s day. Since 2009, VW Bugs and Beetles take pleasure in parading in numbers through the streets of the capital, standing out by their colours, their flowers, their decorations … and their number!

Once again, this year some 300 VW Bugs and Beetles are expected on the Esplanade du Cinquantenaire with their road-going companions, the T1 Combis, on Sunday 10^thFebruary 2019 as from 11.00hrs. The participants have been requested to dress in the spirit of Woodstock and the organisers have foreseen a musical Combi to welcome them. In itself this gathering is already a party for everyone!

Coloured, dressed, personalised, christened, humanised … the Bugs, the Herbies, Numbers 53, Vocho Verde and other Beetles of all colours create the event. Each year it is the same passion that brings together their owners eager to enjoy a day in the spirit of liberty, music and conviviality from the ‘60s and ‘70s!

The general public is invited to immerse themselves in this exceptional atmosphere that will be prevailing at that time in front of Autoworld between 11.00 and 14.00hrs.

At 13.30hrs the starting signal is given! The Love Bugs Parade then moves off in a joyful chaos with blaring horns and cries of joy. The course will take our Bugs up to the new Africa Museum in Tervuren via the royal route, the avenue de Tervuren. Following a few detours in the neighbouring forest, the cars will return to Autoworld around 15.30-16.00hrs.

For the owners of VW Bugs, Beetles and T1 Combis, participation at the Love Bugs Parade is free but it is mandatory to register via email (to patriciaraes@scarlet.be) seeing the number of cars is limited.

So, pencil in the date of Sunday 10^th February in your diaries! Bring out your clothes from the years ’66 through to ’69 and come and pay us a visit!