Merksplas

Merksplas is a municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp , more specifically in the Noorderkempen . The municipality has more than 8500 inhabitants, who are called 'Spetsers'. Merksplas belongs to the Hoogstraten electoral district and the Turnhout judicial district . Merksplasseners are called 'Spetsers', for the origin of Merksplas one probably has to go back to the 12th century. Because Merksplas is located geographically on the back of two catchment areas , there is little decline, leaving many ponds, fens, ponds and pools. Moreover, because travelers used to have to wade through a river, the river De Mark, to come to Merksplas,

it was logical that they were called Spetsers of Merksplas . That is how they got this nickname, but during all that time the Merksplasse Spetser itself was invisible and inspired by this, a competition was organized in the 1990s by the municipality to create an image that portrays this fact. It was created by Kris Druyts, and can be viewed at the Merksplas market.