Ede, Netherlands

Population centres

Community (population):

• Bennekom: 14,749
• De Klomp: 508
• Deelen: 50
• Ede (town): 67,812
• Ederveen: 3,167
• Harskamp: 3,464
• Hoenderloo: 65
• Lunteren: 12,464
• Otterlo (Kroller-Muller Museum): 2,383
• Wekerom: 2,506
• Total: 107,168

The town of Ede

The town itself is situated halfway between the larger cities of Arnhem and Utrecht with direct rail and road connections to both cities. There are no connections to any water nearby, however, there also is a direct road connection to the city of Wageningen which hosts a small industrial port on the river Rijn and a direct road and rail connection to the city of Arnhem, which features larger port at a greater distance. The environment is clean and green due to the fact Ede is partly built in a forest and partly on the central Dutch plains in the national park called Nationaal Park "De Hoge Veluwe".

Economically, the town of Ede is doing fairly well thanks to the proximity of major highways and railways which offer fast connections to the port of Rotterdam, Schiphol airport and the Ruhr Area in Germany. The main sources of employment used to be a factory belonging to the Dutch Enka company and the three military bases situated in the northeast of the town. The factory however, has been closed and the military bases are largely underused since conscription was abolished. The towns economy is lately becoming more focused on national tourism from the more densely populated western cities like Amsterdam and Den Haag, and on education such as local colleges and the large Wageningen University in the city of Wageningen.

Some of the more notable or larger companies and other employers in and around Ede are:

• The Ministry of Defence, via two Army barracks and Deelen Air Base.
• Fruit juice and drinks-factory Riedel, now part of FrieslandCampina.
• Plant- and flower auction house Plantion (since 1 March 2010).
• Advertising agency Lukkien who developed their own Lukkien Heliport on the roof of their office.
• The Dutch headquarters for Kimberly-Clark.
• The Dutch headquarters of mattress and pillow manufacturer Tempur-Pedic.
• Deli-XL, a foodservice distributor in Belgium and the Netherlands.
• The head office and two of the main datacenters of independent internet provider BIT.

Ede is situated along the A12 motorway and has a direct link to the A1 via the A30.

There are two stations in Ede: Ede-Wageningen railway station and Ede Centrum railway station. Ede-Wageningen is the main station with services to Alkmaar, Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Arnhem, Barneveld, Den Helder and Utrecht.

Ede Centrum is served by trains from Amersfoort and Barneveld to Ede-Wageningen.

There are four secondary schools in Ede: Marnix College, Pallas Athene College, one division of Het Streek and Groenhorst College. There is also a Christian University of Applied Sciences Ede (Christelijke Hogeschool Ede).

Socially, Ede is a common town like any other in the Netherlands, with perhaps up to 40% Christian people in the town. Each year, there is a municipality-wide celebration called Heideweek (Week of the heather) which lasts a week largely involves traditional Dutch festivities, along with local customs. During the week, a Queen of the heather and a Princess of the heather are elected from several candidates and will be the representative for the municipality of Ede on various other festivities, until next year when another a new queen and princess are elected.

Twin cities

Notable residents