More than 30,000 people attended Huy’s Septennial festivities on Saturday, with police reporting no major incidents.
The 15 August programme began at midday with a village of gastronomic fraternities set up on Place Verte in the heart of the Meuse city.
The afternoon was devoted to the Septennial procession, a religious, historical and folkloric event held once every seven years.
Dozens of groups from the region, as well as from Tongeren, Mons and elsewhere in Belgium, paraded through the city before making their way to Huy’s collegiate church.
There, the statue of the Virgin of La Sarte, the central figure of the traditional procession, was placed in the church.
In the evening, a fair, a drone show above Baudouin Bridge and a public dance on Huy’s Grand-Place continued the celebrations.
Local police said visitor numbers exceeded 30,000, making the turnout higher than for a typical 15 August celebration.
“It is more than an ordinary 15 August day, and there were no major incidents,” Huy police chief Jean-Marie Dradin told Belga on Sunday.
More than 100 police officers were deployed to secure the event, with support from neighbouring police zones, the federal police and units from Hainaut and Liège.
Local authorities said they were fully satisfied with how the day unfolded.
“The procession delighted thousands of spectators. These 2026 Septennial festivities were a magnificent popular gathering, with no significant disorder,” said Mayor Christophe Collignon.
The celebrations continue on Sunday evening with a torchlit procession carrying the statue of the Virgin from the collegiate church back to the church on La Sarte hill, from where it will descend again in seven years’ time.
