Biggest Sandbox in Town

Three 24 ton piles of sand are being added to the three current courts. Images on flickr here.

River City Bar & Grill Grand Opening - May 10th

There will be beach volleyball downstairs. The Martin Brothers (Classic Rock, Blues) take the stage upstairs at 9:30. Free open court also begins at 9:30 pm and goes on through the night. Free entrance to the bar.

Come support River City at the grand opening. We're all totally at-risk businesses trying to make something different happen in Fort Wayne. I guess that makes us dangerous. Come on out anyway...

Directions here. Facebook event group here.

River City Volleybar

This grilling image is from the summer of 2006. In 2008 the full kitchen will be open....

As I explained to the volleyball clientele in a mass e-mail last week, there will be changes this year at River City. The bar is back. But I will be splitting profits with the bar so that I can put money to improvements such as new sand for new courts. 3 truckloads of sand for the current 3 courts is due to arrive Wednesday morning.

This bar, River City Bar & Grill, has a much better attitude toward the volleyball crowd. They want this to be "our" bar. We want bartenders and servers from the league firstly. If you are in a band, and in the league, we want your band to play at River City (Incidently, it's confirmed as of today that Rosemary Gates will play outside by the beach courts for a charity tourney for the Save Maumee Organization, the "River Goddess Festival" on August 9th). I want players with businesses to put up advertising banners at the courts. First year is free, $75 after...

We will be selling beer in the volleyball shack. 5 for $9. $2.25 for individual domestics. On Thursday nights there will be $1 tacos, and for $6.95 you can get a sirloin steak, a baked potato, with a veggie and a salad. More ideas to follow...

Plans for the future include putting a deck on the roof with stairs leading up to the surprising upstairs bar. If you haven't seen the upstairs bar come out to the River City Bar & Grill Grand Opening on May 10th. Plans also include putting in 2 or 3 more courts that mirror the current courts... with perhaps, a stage staring opposite the upstairs deck. And then perhaps, next year, lighting for the new courts.

Current leagues are filling up so I know we can support the new courts Monday through Thursdays. (Current teams signed up for beach leagues click here). Concerts, open play and tournaments are a plan for Fridays and Saturdays. See the tournament schedule for this year so far here.

Greater Fort Wayne Putting Championship

From scanfw.org:

"On May 9th SCAN (Stop Child Abuse & Neglect) will hold the Greater Fort Wayne Putting Championship™, a serious golfing event with serious prizes. In fact, the first place winner of the inaugural putting championship not only will earn bragging rights as the best putter in Greater Fort Wayne, this individual will take home $5,000 and a trophy ($750 and a trophy if the individual wishes to maintain their amateur golfing status), the second place winner will take home $2,000 ($750 if the individual maintains their amateur golfing status), and the third place winner will win $1,000 ($750 if the individual maintains their amateur golfing status).

The Greater Fort Wayne Putting Championship will take place on Friday, May 9, 2008 at River City Links, 1227 Herbert St., Fort Wayne, IN off Tecumseh St. Individuals pay $100 to participate in the championship. This unique event has never been conducted in northeast Indiana before, yet promises to be a popular venue. At least 200 people can participate in the championship, which will serve as the official kick-off of SCAN’s 20th Annual Duck Race season. Unlike a traditional golf tournament, the Greater Fort Wayne Putting Championship will take most people fewer than 90 minutes to complete their round.

Two area corporations have generously donated prize money. ChromaSource has given $5,000 for the first place winner. Raymond James has committed $1,000 for third prize. SCAN still is looking for a $2,000 second place prize sponsor.

River City Links features a challenging natural, bent-grass putting course, complete with 18 holes. With nearly three acres of professionally-manicured greens, River City Links offers a great opportunity to serious golfers and more casual putters at the same time.

To participate in the Greater Fort Wayne Putting Championship, or to learn more about SCAN and its duck race, contact Stephanie Jentgen at (260) 421-5000, x2238 or go to SCAN’s website at http://www.scanfw.org/."

Microsoft Visual Earth

Find your address here. Have fun with the rotating "Bird's Eye View"

Earth Day 2008

River clean-up spearheaded by the Save Maumee organization will be next Sunday, April 20th. For more info go here.

The Journal-Gazette called 46803 a cancer zone, but it seems debatable if there's more to blame than smoking. But cutting to the core of helping here's the basics for Sunday from SaveMaumee.org:

"Please join Save Maumee on Earth Day to celebrate the cleansing of the riverbanks; seeding and pole planting, erosion control mat installation! Our goal is to pick up all trash between mile marker 1 and 2, plant 250lbs of native riparian seed and and rally the community’s awareness about our 3 River’s condition in Fort Wayne."

Why Young Professionals Leave Fort Wayne

I made an attempt to get a hold of 4 or 5 former Fort Wayners, who played in my leagues, to get their brief written input on why they left. The one response I did get so far... below, from my facebook, sums it up though:


"Job" is easily the number one reason for anyone college age or above. One engineer, who did not want to move, left for employment in Texas recently. One guy who grew up on a farm and worked at Parkview bluntly told me one reason he left is because he kept getting called back to the family farm to help all the time.  But he wanted to move to a bigger city (nightlife) as well. Of course he wouldn't have left if there wasn't a job lined up for him in Chicago.

May Add a Court or Two...

It's possible for this summer's leagues a court or two will be added at River City. One problem is the rising cost of fuel and the impact it will have on the cost of the transportation of sand. If anyone knows of dump trucks or tankers coming or returning to Fort Wayne empty from the Cleveland area that could increase route and profit efficiency by taking a load back then let me know... Mike Harvey, fairplaybeach@yahoo.com, (260) 748-9108.

Below are some shots of the last time sand was added to the beach courts back in March of 2002.