Photo by Mike Lamb Twenty-nine teams participated in rolle bolle during Saturday’s Belgian American Days in Ghent Saturday.

GHENT — When the surface at the rolle bolle area in Ghent is too rough, that’s when Chauncey Welvaert and Galen Boerboom go to work.

“They (wheel) just bounce, hit the footprints. Bouncing and rolling. It’s nice when they can just not bounce all the way down,” Welvaert said after using a shovel to fill in footprints and divots with sand.

At the same time, Boerboom drove a small tractor pulling a roller that packed the surface down. Both were working to prepare the surface for another round of rolle bolle competition during Saturday’s Belgian American Days in Ghent. Rain earlier in the day had turned some of the sand into mud, creating challenges for the first round of competition.

When it comes to rolle bolle surfaces, Boerboom know what he’s talking about. He has 55 years of experience of playing the game. He also participated on one of the teams Saturday.

“I have been doing this for quite awhile,” he said of flattening the playing surface. “I know how they (surfaces) should be, but they are not always that way. Our first two games were against a couple pretty tough teams. One (team) from Iowa, one from Illinois, and the other was a local team. A good local team.”

While the “competition is tough,” Boerboom said Saturday’s tournament is a big family reunion.

“I know them all. It’s camaraderie. It’s competition during the game, but after game is over, it’s all family again. Everybody is good friends. If you look, everybody’s talking out of state, in state,” he said.

Welvaert said the number of teams is down a little bit because of the virus pandemic. The tournament draws teams from Canada that couldn’t come this year because of border restrictions. A total of 17 men’s teams and 12 novice teams competed Saturday.

“Still a good turnout for whatever else is going on in the world,” Welvaert said.

Dustin Remme, another event organizer, agreed. He reported that there were 100 entries for the car show.

“Our average is between 82 to probably 110 vehicles. So we are right in there. Not our biggest year, but that’s (100) quite good. The weather, we had a few sprinkles, but it still held out good,” he said.