"Let's move on people! I would like to introduce you to Frans van Montfoort. One of the very first buskers in old Hoog Catharijne and almost a living statue." Guide Ton van den Berg, today in the guise of his alter ego Koos Marsman, slaps Van Montfoort on the shoulder. "Good to see you again boy."
Marsman is the Uterech guide that was specially created for art event Call of the Mall éch Uterech tours the Cetraol Stetion and Hoog Ketrijne. He demonstrates the wishing well - the work of artist Antonio Vega Macotela - dances with participants, interviews special guests and cheerfully 'gives the word back to Monique' at each work of art. Indeed, as project leader of the event, Monique Dirven knows all about the projects. Marsman does not, but that is not what he is there for. As a born Utrecht resident, however, he does know everything about the history of the station area. The participants hang on his every word and especially his guests'.
Mirliton Theatre
"At one point, the public tripped over the junkies in front of the door. You could throw darts with the needles, Herman used to say." Inge Hansen Weiss, the widow of comedian and folk singer Herman Berkien, awaits us at the Mirliton Theatre. She talks about the theatre's last years, as well as its glory days, when there was a queue from the entrance to the car park. "Herman would just stand at the back of the queue until someone noticed him," she laughs. "He performed here for about 10 years with Tineke Schouten and later with Carry van der Horst. He found it a magnificent mini theatre. Leaving his spot was hard, but it really wasn't possible at the end."
Most participants of the tour know Berkien mainly for the well-known song 'Utereg me Stadje' and for the word 'gladioli'. "Nobody could pronounce gladioli like him," Marsman grins. "Every year on his birthday, friends of his still put a bunch of gladioli by his statue."
The Postillon
On the roof of the shopping centre, we meet Ad Vermeulen. He grew up above his father's café, De Postillon on Stationsplein. After Dirven explains the work of artist Ester van de Wiel - she made a self-regulating garden factory - Vermeulen talks about his childhood in the station area. He loved playing in Smakkelaarsveld and getting peanuts at the Chinese near the neighbourhood station. "Peanut peanut lekka lekka," he cried all day. It was a busy neighbourhood with lots of people and traffic. Still, I have fond memories of it. We found plenty of places to play quietly." The Postillon closed in 1972, but a café by that name still exists. The then owner started a new business on Lijnmarkt. "What is special is that he took the old front door, bar and stained glass and incorporated them into the new Postillon."
Vermeulen's stories evoke some participants' own memories, for instance when he tells about Aunt Truus who polished the copper every Friday. "That was totally part of it for us on Fridays too," says former Utrecht resident Marion Vermeij. "Then everything was clean again for the weekend." According to Vermeij, the ech Uterech tour is highly recommended for all Utrechters. "But also for people who are not from here it can be heartwarmingly fun. The artworks are already very surprising, but the stories about the history give the event something extra."
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