# The first red alert for heat: what June's cancellations mean for your event — MijnEvent [Home](https://mijnevent.nl/en) / [Blog](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog) / The first red alert for heat: what June's cancellations mean for your event safety permit weather cancellation # The first red alert for heat: what June's cancellations mean for your event On 26 June the Dutch weather service issued a red alert for heat for the first time ever. Defqon.1 was called off, mayors pulled permits hours in advance, and the industry is asking for clear criteria. What can organisers take from this before their next summer event? MijnEvent · 10 August 2026 · 8 min read ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/code-rood-hitte-evenementen-afgelasten.webp) Photo: [Patrick von der Wehd](https://unsplash.com/@patrick_von_der_wehd?utm_source=MijnEvent&utm_medium=referral) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=MijnEvent&utm_medium=referral) In short - On 26 June 2026 the Dutch weather service KNMI issued a red alert for extreme heat for the first time, covering eight provinces; the south-east hit 39.4°C. - Under article 174 of the Dutch Municipalities Act, a mayor may issue any order needed to protect safety and health — even if your permit is perfectly in order. - At Defqon.1 the decisive factor was not the temperature but care capacity: local hospitals were already full and the festival's own medical post was overwhelmed. - The Dutch public health institute RIVM works with four options: adapt, shorten, reschedule, cancel. Write out all four as scenarios before you apply for your permit, each with its own decision moment. - Industry body VVEM asked the national safety board on 30 June for an evaluation and for uniform, published criteria — comparable conditions produced very different decisions per region. Not legal advice This article explains the rules as we read them, on the date of publication. It is general information, not legal advice — your situation may differ. Some summers the weather is an inconvenience. Others, it sets the agenda. The summer of 2026 was firmly the second kind. On Thursday 25 June the Dutch weather service KNMI announced something it had never done in its history: a **red alert for extreme heat**. A day later that alert covered eight provinces, and across the country one outdoor event after another was called off. For organisers of festivals, parades, sports events and club gatherings that was an uncomfortable look at the future. Not because weather is new — you have been planning around rain, wind and mud for years — but because this time a decision was made that was not yours. Here is what happened, who decides what, and what you can take from it into your own preparation. # What happened in the last week of June KNMI had already issued an orange alert on 21 June for most of the country. On 26 June it escalated to red for eight provinces: Overijssel, Gelderland, Flevoland, North Holland, South Holland, Utrecht, North Brabant and Limburg. According to [KNMI's own review](https://www.knmi.nl/kennis-en-datacentrum/achtergrond/code-oranje-en-rood-voor-extreme-hitte-van-24-tot-en-met-27-juni-2026), the station at Ell recorded 39.4°C, night temperatures stayed above 22°C in places, and the combination with high humidity was decisive. For heat, the meteorological thresholds for orange and red are the same; the step up to red is made on expected impact on society. That impact showed immediately. Hardstyle festival Defqon.1 in Biddinghuizen — 25 years old, over 72,000 visitors a day — was ended early after one night and then cancelled entirely. "At a certain point you reach a tipping point when it comes to the safety of visitors and staff," director Sander Bijlstra [told news agency ANP](https://nos.nl/artikel/2620314-hardstylefestival-defqon-1-toch-afgelast-vanwege-code-rood). Elsewhere it went the same way: the city of Rotterdam announced that [three events would not take place on Saturday 27 June](https://www.rotterdam.nl/evenementen-afgelast-vanwege-extreme-hitte), and in several regions mayors withdrew permits at the last moment. # The real reason was not the thermometer Look only at the temperature and you miss what the decision was actually about. A month later, mayor Jean Paul Gebben of Dronten [reflected on the cancellation](https://www.binnenlandsbestuur.nl/bestuur-en-organisatie/burgemeester-blikt-terug-op-afgelast-festival-defqon1). His account is not about degrees but about care capacity: the medical post on site — a small hospital in its own right — could barely cope with the influx, while the actual hospitals nearby were already full and could not take patients over. Ground-level temperatures hit 40°C; inside the peaks of the tents, 80°C. The same picture applied more widely. Ambulance services across the southern half of the country were [under severe pressure](https://nos.nl/artikel/2620609-onbegrip-voor-afgelaste-festivals-maar-ambulancezorg-al-zwaar-onder-druk), and several safety regions urged mayors not to let events go ahead while an orange or red alert was in force. That is the important insight for your own preparation: **the question is not only whether you can cope, but whether the chain around you can cope.** You can have a perfect heat plan — water, shade, extra first aid — but if regional care is buckling at that moment, that weighs heavier. # Who actually decides about your event? Many organisers assume a granted permit is the final word. It is not. [Article 174 of the Dutch Municipalities Act](https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005416#TiteldeelIII_HoofdstukXI_Artikel174) charges the mayor with supervising public gatherings and entertainment, and explicitly grants the power to issue "the orders needed with a view to protecting safety and health". On top of that, virtually every event permit contains conditions allowing the municipality to restrict or withdraw it. Most European countries have a comparable arrangement under a different name: the local authority that grants your permit can also pull it on public-health grounds. In practice this means that during extreme weather you become part of a meeting you do not chair. In Dronten the safety team met every three hours, twenty-four hours a day. The better your plan is on the table — with scenarios, measuring points and decision moments — the better your chances of taking part in that decision rather than hearing about it. # Why the same weather played out differently per region That grates, and the industry has said so. On 30 June industry body VVEM sent a letter to the national safety board [asking for a national evaluation](https://www.evenementenindustrie.nl/uncategorized/vvem-vraagt-veiligheidsberaad-om-landelijke-evaluatie/) of the decision-making between 26 and 28 June. The core of their objection: comparable conditions led to widely diverging decisions in different regions, and organisers could not judge in advance what conditions they were supposed to meet. VVEM argues for more uniform application of the weather codes, transparent assessment frameworks and a risk-based approach — where a weather code is not an automatic ban but the starting point of a per-event assessment. Whether that materialises is still open. Until it does, assume that your municipality and safety region make their own call, and that your file can make the difference. # Four options: the framework you can use today RIVM, the Dutch public health institute, offers a simple and workable framework alongside the [National Heat Plan](https://www.rivm.nl/hitte/nationaal-hitteplan). For [events](https://www.rivm.nl/hitte/kwetsbare-groepen/evenementen) it names four options, to be weighed on the type of event, the audience and the forecast: - **Adapt** — more space per visitor, extra shade, free water, more breaks, a better-staffed first aid post and misting stations where people can cool themselves. - **Shorten** — cut the event or individual parts of it short. - **Reschedule** — move the heaviest part of your programme away from the hottest hours; between 12:00 and 16:00 the heat is at its worst. - **Cancel** — call it off if safety cannot be guaranteed. RIVM also advises asking your regional public health service for advice early, and communicating the measures to your visitors in advance. That last point is not a detail: a visitor who knows beforehand that the gates open at 18:00 is a visitor who is not standing in front of a closed gate at 13:00. # Put heat in your safety plan before you apply for the permit Most safety plan templates already ask for a weather monitoring paragraph, and that paragraph is usually exactly one sentence long. Use the four options to turn it into something you will actually benefit from in June: write out per option what you do, who takes that decision, and when. A point of no return — say, 36 hours out we decide on the day programme, 12 hours out on opening times — gives your municipality something to agree with rather than something to doubt. How to build such a plan is covered in [the safety plan for your event](/en/blog/event-safety-plan-crowd-monitoring). And because "we keep an eye on the weather" is hard to evidence, MijnEvent pulls the KNMI warning code for your province into your dashboard and logbook every hour — see [weather monitoring in your safety plan](/en/blog/knmi-weather-alerts-event-safety-plan). A human still decides, but afterwards you can show exactly when you knew what. # And if it does go wrong: money, message and goodwill If your event does not go ahead, the second half of the work begins. Two things matter. **The money.** If the event is off, the buyer is generally entitled to a refund of the ticket price — force majeure does not automatically release you from that. If you postpone rather than cancel, it is customary to give the buyer the choice between the new date and a refund. **The message.** At Defqon.1 the decision came on the morning itself, with tens of thousands of people already on the campsite. That kind of announcement has to reach everyone within an hour, and social media posts reach nowhere near everyone. So make sure you can email all buyers of one specific event in a single action, even if you have never done it before — [email your attendees from the dashboard](/en/blog/email-your-attendees-from-the-dashboard) shows how to reach exactly the right group. Practise once with a harmless message; the day you need it is not the day you want to go looking for the button. # Level-headed, looking ahead One heatwave does not make a new norm, but the direction is clear enough: extreme days will come more often, and the care capacity around them is not growing. That need not be a doomsday picture. The organisers who did go ahead this summer did so with simple means — starting later, more shade, free water, smaller tents, more first aid. Nearly all of them measures you can put in your plan without costing a euro extra if the weather turns out fine. What you mainly need is preparation you can show on paper, and a ticketing system that lets you switch quickly on the day: reach visitors, refund, move a date. That is exactly what MijnEvent is built for — one fixed amount per ticket instead of a percentage of your revenue, and payments that land straight in your own account. See what that costs on the [pricing page](/en/pricing), or [register your organisation](/registreer) and set up your first event. Legislation changes and tariffs are revised annually. We do our best to keep this article current and link to the source where we can, but we cannot guarantee everything still holds at the moment you read it. If a decision carries financial or legal consequences, check with the authority itself or put it to a lawyer or adviser. See also our [general disclaimer](https://mijnevent.nl/en/disclaimer). Frequently asked questions ## Frequently asked questions ## Can a mayor cancel my event even though I hold a valid permit? In the Netherlands, yes. Article 174 of the Municipalities Act puts the mayor in charge of supervising public gatherings and entertainment, and gives them the power to issue whatever orders are needed to protect safety and health. On top of that, nearly every event permit contains conditions allowing the municipality to restrict or withdraw it. A valid permit is not a guarantee that the event goes ahead. ## Do visitors get their money back if heat stops my event? As a rule, yes. If the event does not go ahead, you have not delivered what you sold, and the buyer is generally entitled to a refund of the ticket price. Force majeure can matter for consequential damages, but it does not automatically release you from refunding the ticket itself. ## At what temperature should I adapt my event? There is no legal threshold. RIVM advises weighing the type of event, the audience and the forecast, and moving the heaviest parts of your programme away from the hottest hours — between 12:00 and 16:00. When in doubt, ask your regional public health service for advice; they know the local care capacity. ## What can I arrange now so a heat day does not catch me out? Put the four options in your safety plan as scenarios, agree a decision moment for each, and make sure you can reach every ticket buyer within an hour with a changed programme or a cancellation. [ Back to blog ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog) MijnEvent ## Read more [ ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/stadspas-kwijt-koppelen-en-bevriezen.webp) city-voucher Jasper Koers · 7 August 2026 · 6 min read ## Lost or stolen city card? Link your card and freeze it right away Link your city card to your email address and we warn you the moment something happens you don't recognise. And if things do go wrong? One button in the email freezes the card — your balance simply stays put. ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog/lost-city-card-link-and-freeze) [ ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/fysieke-stadspasjes-drukken-en-hergebruiken.webp) modules Jasper Koers · 7 August 2026 · 4 min read ## Printing and reusing physical city cards: how it works Generate pass IDs in the dashboard, have them printed with the bundled print instructions, and issue, take in and reissue cards — the previous holder's access expires everywhere. ](https://mijnevent.nl/en/blog/printing-and-reusing-physical-city-cards) [ ![](https://regify-mijnevent.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/blog/covers/betaalkosten-bij-ticketverkoop-de-tweede-rekening.webp) pricing MijnEvent · 3 August 2026 · 8 min read ## The second bill: what payment processing really adds to your ticket sales When comparing ticketing platforms, organisers look at the platform fee. 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