The Pole Sitting contest at the Plaza café concluded Sunday night at 11 p.m. with Roel Oude Avenhuis (20), breaking the previously set record of 84 hours accomplished by media member Tito Lacle last year.
Mo Mohamed and his troupe of African drummers were present when Roel stepped off his stool, cramped, but still standing, having been sleep-deprived for 85 hours, all for a good cause, the Clown Doctors foundation.
The event launched on Tuesday with a special VIP party starring the mechanical bull. The idea of livening up the
rather static Pole Sitting Contest is Peter Balliere’s. Peter is the president of the Clown Doctors foundation and a clown in the making himself. He is actually very funny! Peter contracted a mechanical bull in Florida and shipped it to the island which provided much fun for kids and adults during the weekend and allowed the pole sitter some laughs, something to look at.
Peter reports that the 6 day event had a number of highlights among them
Tsunami’s performance which attracted many locals and visitors and created a huge traffic jam in town, at midnight. The band gave a fantastic performance inspiring Peter to think about a similar performance, this time in Belgium.
Peter will be trying to feature that Caribbean sound wave in Europe for an upcoming festival.
Also side-splitting funny, a musical chair game with over 65 participants, with DJ Randolf as prankster emcee. Eleven chairs broke in the heat of the moment, but much laughter and enjoyment were derived from watching the crowd fight for chairs, and game survival. Chef Patrice Costa of the Waterfront Crabhouse was second runner up while a restaurant waitress won the contest and an airline ticket to Curacao.
Another highlight was the Human Jackpot featuring the clowns attempting to line up three fruits for a prize, and the disco night, Saturday, featured Cher, a female impersonator as guest artist. The Plaza Café seemed very content with the result of the hoopla, as there was always something to do and/or something to laugh at/with, in the Renaissance Mall.
Other Pole Sitting contestants, among them Kimberly Middelkoop who works at Scandals came off the pole after 40 hours, Diane Wolthuis who works at Bingo gave up after 63. Michiel Eskens, a kite surfing instructor endured 52 hours while Bores van der Molen also a kite surfing instructor concluded his challenge at 35 hours. Thijs van Westing
threw in the towel after 60 hours. Imagine sitting still all that time, in an always-on-the-go world, it is an overwhelming challenge, to just be!
Anyway, each of the sitters donated one third of their sponsoring fees to the Clown Doctors, besides Plaza Café pitched in and the public supported tee shirts sales, bar sales and bull rides. The contest in its 12th year is a tradition on the island, Evert & Heleen Bongers who help in the organization vouch it was the most successful ever. Pictured here, Roel visited by Peter, Ellen and the Aruba Model Search contestants.
