Once a year, the Dorpsstraat in Zorgvlied turns into a trotting track. Drivers and riders try to stick copper rings out of a plate with a lance. Anyone who can do that well and showed it a few weeks earlier in Diever even has a chance to win a trophy. But not this year.
Chantal Wijntjes is at the beginning of the Dorpsstraat. “This is where the starting flag hangs and at the end the finish, yes.” Wijntjes organizes the event every year because it suits her better than the ring stitching, she says. “The rings stayed where they were.”
But she doesn’t have to organize anything for the coming edition, she has actually canceled it. Due to a lack of participants and especially volunteers, she did not think it was responsible to wait any longer before canceling. “That is a very difficult decision to make. You have been doing it for years and with great pleasure. So it is very hard if it cannot go ahead, but I think it is the right choice. Safety must come first and we cannot guarantee that this year.”
The enthusiasm for ring stitching changes from year to year. Two years ago, the event had a waiting list and thirty combinations were at the start. This year the number of pre-registrations remained at twelve. But the lack of volunteers makes it especially difficult. “I think there are a lot of other events in the area this weekend. And some people are on vacation or had to cancel for health reasons. So it didn’t work out this year.”
The ring stabbing has skipped a year before and the organization is not throwing in the towel now either. The sights are already set on next year. “We will have to look at a kind of working group that also helps us with organizing in advance, but certainly also on the day itself.”
“The last one is certainly not behind us,” Wijntjes laughs. “That is not our intention. So we hope next year, perhaps in a different way or with another event, to see if we can organize it again.”
