Last Thursday it was finally time: Larafest 2025! For Shock Media, it was the first event since the start of the partnership with the Dutch Laravel Foundation (DLF). The day was all about sun, beach, BBQ, and good vibes!
Beautiful location
This year, Larafest was organized in Katwijk aan Zee, right on the beach. A stunning location for this event, made even better by the beautiful weather. At the start of the day, all 70 participants were welcomed by Robert and Chris, both board members of the DLF and closely involved in organizing this edition of Larafest. From Shock Media, we had the opportunity to welcome everyone and introduce ourselves as the newest partner of the DLF.
After the welcome speech, there was a short presentation by Sylvester Damgaard, Senior Infrastructure Engineer at Laravel, who took us into the world of Laravel with Kubernetes. It was great to see how Laravel is engaged in containerization. This also confirmed our vision on the best way to deploy Laravel on Kubernetes.
LarAward
One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of the LarAward. This audience award was given to one of the three nominees, each of whom shared about a Laravel project they had worked on.
- 23G kicked off the presentation with Nines Living, a platform that allows users to optimally manage their households. Nines Living is unique because of its focus on affluent users with multiple properties.
- SWIS presented a platform they developed for Prelum Uitgevers, an e-learning platform for the (online) continued education of healthcare professionals.
- Van Ons gave insight into their work for Medica, an application widely used within the University of Leuven.
After the presentations, everyone present voted. In keeping with the theme, on the beach, the winner was announced: 23G! The honor then went to Shock Media to present the award!
Accessible community
The rest of the evening featured a delicious barbecue and a Pub Quiz full of humor—a perfect end to a wonderful day. It’s clear that the DLF is a community where members want to connect and get to know each other better. The atmosphere is informal and there is plenty of room for good times. Everyone is approachable and a true Laravel ambassador. All in all, a wonderful baptism of fire for Shock Media.
We are therefore very much looking forward to the coming months within the Dutch Laravel Foundation. With the experience of Larafest under our belt, things are looking very promising!
Are you also curious about the Dutch Laravel Foundation? Feel free to contact us, we’d be happy to tell you more!
