History
Early 1900 the rose appeared in Lottum. This queen of flowers did well in Lottum’s soil and the production of roses grew quickly. At one point as many as one third of the Lottumers worked in 'the roses'. Through all the hard work they did not see the beauty and romance of the rose no longer. Therefore, in 1922 the first Lottum Rose Festival was celebrated at the castle ‘de Borggraaf’. That way, the beauty of the rose would be experienced again, not only for Lottumers, but for anyone interested in (the beauty of) the rose. Until 1931 the Rose Festival was celebrated almost annually, then followed by a period of silence until 1947. Then the Rose Festival again revived, sometimes at the Market Square, sometimes at ‘de Borggraaf’, and later at the ‘Kraaijenhof’, a park just outside the village. And again after an interlude of almost twenty years, the tradition was reintroduced again in 1991, but now under a different name. This is the way the Rose Festival was born, a biennial event with the rose as central focus. Since 1991 the festival has grown continually, with more than 50,000 people Lottum during the most recent edition of the Festival. Together with the number of visitors, the terrain grew in size; besides the Market Square and the Kasteellaan (Castle Lane), also a large square near the Maas will be decorated with rose gardens and a stage, all still located in the village centre and within walking distance.
In the Photo Album you can see an impression of all of the earlier Rose Festivals.