Morganton, NC

Exciting times for Carolina Petanque

Mayor Thompson with Kirk and Bo

John and Jane with Director Winkler

Restrooms are really nice and close

Right beside the playground and parking lot

JUDGEs restaurant is a three minute walk!

The Catawba River

Several Carolina Petanque members held a late afternoon meeting on Wednesday with Morganton's mayor, Ronnie Thompson, and the town's Parks and Recreation Director, Rob Winkler. Attending as Carolina Petanque representatives were: Kirk Edwards, president; Bo Edwards; Shirley Jones, vice-president; Gary Jones, secretary/treasurer; and Morganton residents Steve Gantt, Jane Gantt, and John Gantt.

We were very encouraged by the discussion. The Morganton officials seem to be genuinely interested in adding petanque to the impressive list of activities offered at Catawba Meadows Park .The site they have planned for us is close to parking, playgrounds, restrooms, refreshments, a nice restaurant, and the beautiful greenway along the Catawba River. And, when I say close, I mean a walk of a few hundred yards!

The plans call for a playing area of approximately 33 by 33 meters. That should be 16 full sized courts. If so, we would be able to hold tournaments for 64 doubles players or 96 triples players! That would enable Carolina Petanque to become more involved in FPUSA regional and national play should we choose to do so.

Exciting times! Maybe something by the beginning of the year (or before!)?

14 for fun!

We has 14 (!) players for Wednesday morning petanque. Pretty good for our group. Just when we were considering whether weekday play was really going to work out, we got almost as large a turnout as we have on weekends. Good news for those of us who like to play more than once or twice a week.

Our Louisiana friend, Mike Owens, was visiting us for a few days, so we were especially glad to have a variety of players show up for him to meet and play with.

Sunny Sunday

As summer in the Carolinas begins to wane, we look forward to the coming comfortable temperatures for our Sunday afternoon play. Though it's beyond mid-September, this particular Sunday was still PLENTY warm. There was, nevertheless, a nice group of players in Winston-Salem. This, following Saturday's crowd in Charlotte seems to indicate that interest in petanque is still growing in the Carolinas. Our upcoming major expansion into the foothills in Morganton should give us another significant play location with Winston-Salem and Charlotte seeming to be well-established.

Third Saturday Petanque

We, once again, had a nice turnout for our monthly (third Saturday of each month) scheduled play at Nevin Park in Charlotte. Denyse and Rebekah have taken the lead on organizing play there, and it's paying off with quite a few good new players. As it turns out, Charlotte is not only convenient for the people who actually live in the area, it is also a little more convenient than Winston-Salem for some of our Lincolnton, Hickory, Morganton, Deep Gap, Crossnore, Concord, and Spruce Pine members. We're really glad to have a second main spoke location to play.