March 18, 2007

Petanque in Detroit

Revamped Cadillac Park downtown Detroit is almost finished and - GOOD NEWS - there's lots of crushed stone between the paved walkways!
Jeff & Joe and their friends tried them out today and they work great.

Their report: Midwest Petanque Blog

And also Detroit Petanque Club has a brand new website. Spring is in the air all around.

March 11, 2007

Petanque in New Orleans

Yesterday the Bilingual School of New Orleans held a French Festival on their school grounds.
Our friends from Petanque Louisianaise at LSU (motto "State Champs") were there to organize petanque demonstrations for the kids and a few matches for the parents.
Good idea, guys!

March 9, 2007

Petanque in Homestead, FL

There's a huge petanque following at Pine Isle RV Park in Homestead, the last town on the mainland before heading out to the Keys.

This week had a ladies only tournament, with over 100 participants. But as you can see some of the men were around to keep an eye out on the ladies courts.
Thanks to our friend Richard for the pictures!

March 7, 2007

Petanque in Michigan

Michigan Petanque Club has also revamped their website.
New format, and new content like YouTube clips to illustrate different playing techniques.
You can see that spring is almost there and that they are eagerly awaiting the new season.

March 3, 2007

Petanque in Winston Salem

Excellent playing conditions this afternoon. Sunshine with a bit of breeze.
Bob did extremely well with his new 71mm boules, and ... some of us got lucky!

March 2, 2007

Petanque in Westchester, NY

The ink of the previous post has hardly dried and here is good news from a group of players that will get together weekly at Peter Pratts Inn in Yorktown NY, close to Croton Lake.
The place looks beautiful. And so do the dishes.

Every Tuesday at 6:30pm, starting May 1st.

Westchester Petanque Blog

March 1, 2007

Indoor bocce in NY

A recurring theme of our blog is the hope that some bar or restaurant owners adopt petanque as entertainment, just like pool or darts.
Floyd, a popular bar in Brooklyn has done it with bocce for a couple of years now. The current standings page shows 24 teams (with very funny names) who meet once a week for games, and probably drinks and dinner. Results are kept up-to-date weekly for the season championships. Very well organized.
From the reviews in the New York press it is obvious that most are not traditional players, but mostly young people who saw it there, tried it and got hooked. So it could work as well with petanque, right?

So far in NY we only know of Pit Stop, also in Brooklyn, where the outdoor petanque courts are very popular - when it gets warmer.

Petanque in Lutz, FL

We've mentioned it earlier, nudist resorts are one of the fastest growing petanque segments across the country.
Many nudists are also avid travelers, so they spread the word from the Southern states in winter to the Northern states in the summer.
For obvious reasons, no pics of people playing, but look at the awesome courts. These are at Lake Como.
And we get friendly notes, like this one today:

Hi there,
I just wanted to thank you for always being so diligent as far as fulfilling our orders and also for your promotion of petanque. Your products are excellent, as is your service. I run tournaments here at Lake Como in Florida, as well as our camp up in Michigan. We have 5 tourneys up there, plus 2 open tourneys here and a "member's only' one where you get your name on a plaque that stays on site. We return prize money 100 %, furnish food at a very moderate charge, and have a 50/50 drawing that takes care of the food. Our last two tournaments had 48 and 54 participants, respectively. Both sites are nudist, but of course we do go along with the weather and wear what we must and try to stay away from the doctor.
We encourage both petanque and nudity, and love for new people to try the game. We furnish all you need (petanque balls, etc.). All you need/don't need is clothes! WE LOVE THE GAME, AND WANT OTHERS TO EXPERIENCE IT!!!
I'm attaching copies of our courts. (Pictures of people are not allowed at most nudist resorts).
This is probably approaching 10 times I've ordered from you, with no problems, great communication, and super service. Thnx DLM