Vianen in Utrecht is hosting this year’s official arrival of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands on Saturday, the kick-off for three weeks of festivities ahead of the main December 5 present-giving event.

Since 1952 the arrival of Sinterklaas has been a televised event which sees the Sint and his helpers land in style from their steam boat from Spain (although Sinterklaas has been known to arrive by train, plane and even a hot air balloon).

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Nevertheless, although the debate about Sinterklaas’s traditional helpers who used to be portrayed by a white person in blackface makeup has abated somewhat, it has not gone away.

Although many Piets now have a dirty face to represent the soot they pick up climbing down chimneys to deliver gifts, not all have ditched the curly wigs, red lips and earrings, which KOPZ says, are racist as well.

KOPZ announced last week it would campaign at Sinterklaas events in some of the 23 towns and villages that still feature (partly) traditional Piets. “The events are not free of racism,” KOPZ frontman Jerry Afriyie told broadcaster NOS. “We have approached the organisers at some 40 places to ask them to make this an event for all children,” he said.

Appingedam, Workum, Coevorden, and Almelo have already said they would continue with the traditional Piets.

Some places on the list said they already used sooty Piets but, Afriyie said, the guidelines include more than blackface makeup. “The guidelines are clear. We also want the use of red lipstick and earrings to stop. We see that some organisers opt for a middle way but you don’t combat racism with a Black Pete light version, ‘ he said.

Next year will mark the last time the KOPZ campaigns against racism around the Sinterklaas celebrations. The group was founded in 2010 but the plan was always to stop in 2025, founder Afriyie said at the time.

“People who preceded us in the fight against racism without a deadline burned out,” he said.

The organisation was set up with three main aims: more education and awareness of slavery; a national day to remember the abolition of slavery, and the end of the racist Zwarte Piet stereotype.

The official arrival of Sinterklaas will be broadcast on NTR at midday on Saturday.