Backstage Boule at the Detroit Jazz Festival

It was a tad more difficult to find an open space in Detroit to play our lunchtime boule - so we just went backstage!

The Chase Stage is being set up for the Detroit Jazz Festival, and some of this evening's bands were testing out their equipment.

We we invited to the backstage area to play our lunchtime petanque - Gene, Sharon, Abu, Mike, Aueesa, and Jeff played a nice triplette - 12/12 with Team: Jeff/Aueesa/Abu taking the 13th point.


As for Saturday's petanque prospects... I took a look around Campus Martius Park and Cadillac Square and didn't really see any space that wouldn't be filled by the thousands of jazz fans that'll be downtown starting tonight. So, NO PETANQUE for Saturday - at least, no petanque in the Campus Martius Park/Cadillac Square areas. BUT, that's a good thing sometimes... you can enjoy this annual Jazz Festival instead.

Final Bands Boules and Beer Wednesday night at Campus Martius Park

Tonight was the final session of the Wednesday Bands Boules and Beer nights at Campus Martius Park. Adam Laurie of the Buzz Bar put up a nice tent just in case the rains came (they did eventually!)

We played for a few hours, enough folks for a triplette and a doublette: Erin, Dan C., Charlene, Nicole, Bob M., Kitty, James, Cheryl, Gene, Jeff W., and Robert

Erin and Charlene were really shooting well, hitting almost everything they set their sights upon. Good work!

The rain (and lightning!) eventually came - but not before we were able to enjoy plenty of boule.

Buzz Bar Jazz Jam - Bands Boules and Beer

Adam Laurie of the Buzz Bar has been running a great wednesday night series of music at Campus Martius Park all summer long. Tonight he concludes the series (for this year) with an ALL-STAR- JAZZ-JAM

And the petanque players will be right there alongside the bands, playing boule in force. The music starts at 5:00 pm, petanque around 5:30 pm up until around 9 pm (or later!)

Thanks from Windy City to Motor City

To Jeff and the entire Detroit Club,

Thanks again for the tremendous tournament. All of your hard work really paid off.

I would guess a tournament organizer's greatest fear is rain. With that in mind, you cleverly planned it so that it only rained during the lunch break. When the afternoon rounds began, the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds. For the finals, the weather could not have been better.

Once we got over the challenging Friday night drive, the weekend blossomed into a memorable, fun event.

Let's start planning the next one.

Best Regards to all, from your friends,
Chicago Petanque Club

The Day After the Detroit Tournament

For some, a full day of petanque (and a tournament no less) just isn't enough. So these hardy souls joined us on Sunday at the Michigan Petanque Club pistes in Royal Oak to play some more boule.

It was a brilliantly sunny day, and the pistes were perfect for play. Philippe Boets brought along some petanque boule displays. Ziggy and April from Chicago as well as Mamary from Philadelphia decided to visit the MPC pistes for further victory; Nicole (Detroit) and Charlene (Colorado) (they partnered in the tournament) were also played well in Royal Oak; and we were joined by Denise Burgy and her sister, Sally, as well as Camille Pontois - an excellent pointer; and Michel and Jeannette decided to show off their new outfits (Jeannette is in the captain's hat and shirt). The Didierjean brothers (Cyrille & Greg) also were there - Greg zoomed in on his bike at around 250 mph! James and Cheryl with their little princess Celia in tow, Danny C.; Joe Z.; Mike R.; and Jeff Widen. Then a little later, Bob Moyer rolled up in his vintage volkswagen van.

Lost at the Detroit Tournament

Unlike the big ticket items lost at the Brooklyn tournament last month (Joe's cellphone and Philippe's digital camera - BOTH FOUND BY THE WAY!) - we only have 1 FOUND item which somebody forgot at the Hardrock Cafe. It is a navy blue pepsi pullover. If this is yours, or you know whose it may be, please let me know and I'll send it back to them.

After a week, it goes up on E-BAY for auctioning... (I'm kidding)

Jeff
jeffrey@detroitpetanque.com

Hard Rock Detroit Doublettes Tournament

Here are a series of photos from the tournament on Saturday.

You can also see photos at two locations:

Philippe's Slideshow:

PHILIPPE SLIDESHOW

and

Jeff's Slideshow


Congrats to the tournament winners:

Ziggy (Chicago) & Mamary (Philly) for the Top-Tier Gold

Pat (Detroit) & Tim (Detroit) for the Top-Tier Silver

Roland (Michigan) and Gerard (Michigan) for the Consolante Gold

Wayne (Detroit) and Loic (Chicago) for the Consolante Silver

Big thanks to Philipe Boets for flying in to assist with the tournament, and in offering his generous friendship, advice, and Petanque America gifts at the Hard Rock Cafe dinner.

Additional thanks to Denise Burgy and Greg & Cyrille Didierjean for crunching the tournament numbers in setting up the team play.

More thanks to Rae Dombrowski of the Hard Rock Cafe Detroit for sponsoring the Hard Rock Cafe prizes and making our dinner celebration work out so smoothly.

Big thank you to Heather Badrack and Njia Kai of the Detroit 300 Conservancy for managing and keeping the Cadillac Square (and Campus Martius Park) looking so nice and ensuring the they would be available for little get-together on Saturday.

And last but certainly not the least,
a thank you to all who came to the event, players and petanque fans, and family. Together we withstood the afternoon rain, and turned the day into an enjoyable and long lasting memory. Let's do it again!

Finals Photos from Detroit Tournament

Some Photos from the Detroit Tournament

Still more photos from the Tournament

More Photos From Detroit Doublettes Tournament

Petanque Marathon at Campus Martius Park & Cadillac Square

Petanque on Wednesday is a double header, with the afternoon 12-1pm games, and then the evening, 5:30pm to 10pm games (during Band, Boules and Beer night).

SLIDESHOW OF TODAY'S PETANQUE

Join us on Saturday to watch the big tournament, or, if you can't make it, then stop by at one of out afternoon or weekend games.

The last Bands Boules and Beer night for the Summer is on August 29th (Wednesday). Stop by and enjoy social petanque and live music.