Weesp merges with Amsterdam. The city councils of Amsterdam and Weesp want to form one municipality together. By joining Amsterdam, Weesp can benefit from the economies of scale of a large municipality, but retain its own identity.

After years of negotiations with neighboring municipalities from the Gooi, Weesp decided to opt for the large city neighbor. In a referendum in 2018, 57 percent of the votes were in favor of a merger with the capital and 43 percent for a merger with Gooise Meren. The population thus followed the choice that the municipal council had made earlier. Officially, there is already one organization. The merger will probably be complete in 2022. How does the municipality of Weesp now view this merger? How were the residents included in the process?

Drinking Wispe in Weesp
The end of the year also includes an end-of-year drink, where you can reflect on the past year with colleagues. Great combination with a tour of the winner of the Amsterdam Communication Prize: Brewery Wispe in Weesp.

Three brothers managed to breathe new life into Weesp’s rich beer past with a brewery and tasting room. It started with the question: How nice would it be to give Weesp its own beer again? After many tries, the Wispe Blonde is the first beer on the roll in 2008.

They initially brew the Wispe beers in the kettles of other breweries. Their eye falls on the Laurentius Church on the Herengracht in Weesp, which has to be given a different destination or will be demolished. Five years of planning, meeting, adapting and making new plans is about to begin. Ultimately, the official opening of the brand new own brewery with tasting room will follow on February 14, 2020. Then Corona will bring a strong damper. But with the Weesper Bierbox and the Gefelici vaccinated beer, which is specially brewed to toast after vaccination, they keep their spirits up. Now at the end of 2021, the Wispe Brewery with tasting room is already a household name in Weesp.

A wonderful place to end this year with beers brewed there. Something else is also allowed, you know!