The weather was against the New Island festival, one of the pillars of the so-called 'NY400' celebrations. On Friday, the second day of the out-doors festival the storm was so severe that all shows on Governors Island, an island in the New York harbour, had to be cancelled. More performances were called off on Saturday and Sunday when the Manhattan metro line that connects to the ferry was out of order because of maintenance.

But external factors aside, there was limited interest from New Yorkers, the target audience of the festivities. "We are doing it for the American audience; who else would we do it for?" festival director Henk Scholten had said in advance.

The theatre shows on the island were organised to celebrate 400 years of Dutch-American relations, and were attended by Dutch crown-prince Willem-Alexander and princess Máxima. Hundreds of civil servants worked for two years on the festivities at a total cost of 6 million euros, not including those made by the Amsterdam city, different provincial authorities and the royal family.

The reason for all this frenzy was the commemoration of Henry Hudson's 1609 exploration of the river that would be named after him. Hudson, a British captain in the service of the Dutch, did not discover New York - the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano had done that 85 years prior - nor did he found New Amsterdam - that happened 16 years later. The NY400 title was picked, however, to draw as many New Yorkers as possible.

A walk around the festival grounds on Saturday made it clear that this lofty goal was not met. An unscientific poll suggested that no more than a fifth of the people present were Americans.

The performances, originally created for the Oerol and Parade summer festivals in the Netherlands, seemed poorly adapted to a foreign crowd. In Zap Holland, for instance, a comedy show that 'zaps' through the Dutch cultural history, the audience was asked to mimick "Indians" (considered a derogatory word for Native Americans) by imitating Indian battle cries (an even bigger insult).

The few Americans present wanted no part of that, but some seemed to appreciate the absence of other Americans, preferring to relish in an all-Dutch party in a tranquil spot near the ever-busy city. "New Yorkers know nothing about this celebration," visitor Isa Goldberg said. "I want to thank the Dutch for generously organising these events."

The only act to draw a crowd of New Yorkers was DJ Armin van Buuren. His audience passed the 'non-Dutchness test' when crown prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Máxima entered the stage. The few hundred Dutch people present started snapping photos, while the rest of the 2,000-strong crowd just kept on dancing. The Van Buuren fans all got back on the ferry after his show and left the rest of the festival to the Dutch.