More Indy Envy

From Peter King of SI:

"And as long as we're talking about Indy, I hope Indianapolis gets the 2012 Super Bowl ... and this from a guy who wishes every Super Bowl were played in San Diego. Indy deserves it. It's the most walkable downtown in America."

Pinheads In Indy Not for Sale

I had a couple search engine hits on this blog last month about Pinheads Entertainment Complex in Fishers/Indy possibly being for sale. In the Indy Star the owner says it's not for sale. The original investment was apparently $5.2 million.

The article mentions it also contains a "volleyball court." It is in fact the two best white sand beach courts in the Indy area at this time...


Fort Wayne still holds the envy of beach volleyball players in Indy because of their lack of good places to play.  Maybe that will change in the near future...

Urban Beaches

The Good City blog made a post about an urban beach in Paris. The idea is of slowing things down in the urban core, whether it be cars or people and their pollution, and enjoying life on the "beach". It's based on an article from here. I found my own article on the imported Paris beach here. It says they brought in 3000 tons of sand. It also notes that much of the sand gets taken up by volleyball courts.

World Tour, Stavanger Paris 2007

It sounds like the Paris beach isn't quite as big as I envisioned it after finding the second article. It's only 5 times as much sand as was brought into River City here in Fort Wayne. And much less than at Tampa Bay's Club V. The place that the River City Beach was modeled after was a 3 court facility with multi-level decks known as Baxter Jacks (formerly known as the Brewery) in Downtown Louisville. As I understand it in the summer they now fill a backstreet with sand in the summer and have a fourth court. The AVP has events in Louisville, which is a midwestern hotbed for beach volleyball.

Even though the current beach at River City is surrounded by old industrial buildings it still has a "happiness" effect. By throwing up a few palm trees, some murals and beach music, it's a mini-vacation land... maybe not in Downtown Fort Wayne but close enough. There was also a downtown beach blast event last year where we cooperated with the D.I.D. and brought in 30 of the 31 teams, but it suffered from bad weather.

Moving quality sand is an even more expensive proposition now more than ever. I heard the Pinheads Entertainment Complex in Fishers spent $60000 for sand for 2 courts a couple of years ago.

Here are more pictures from around the world from my facebook group "Around the World Beach Volleyball."

New Zealand National Tour, Mt Maunganui, Tauranga 2007

Camps Bay, Cape Town

New Zealand National Tour, Auckland 2007

World Tour, Stavanger Norway 2007

Camps Bay, South Africa World Tour 2004

Sandbagging Fun

Sandbagging Fun from fairplaybeach on Vimeo.

If a person, or a couple, is looking for something to do this weekend maybe sandbagging is an answer. At least for a short stint it's actually kind of fun. They feed you pizza, cookies and provide music part of the time. And the people who receive the sandbags certainly appreciate it.

Bring someone with you, although maybe you'll run into someone you know if you don't, or someone who knows someone you know. In my case I ran into someone from Decatur who was just passing through. It turns out he was a neighbor of my brother back in July of 2003 when part of Parkview Drive by Kekionga Park at the St. Mary's got rubbed out by a flood. He was just glad to volunteer because of people who sandbagged for him back in 2003.

I'm not sure if they still need volunteers but if they do, the building at 1701 Lafayette Street that you want to find would be the one closer to downtown... on the North side of the property. You can shovel, tie, hold bags open, or move them out. I learned 3 shovel fulls is the right amount for a bag.

I didn't realize most of the people there (early part of my video) when I got there were city employees. In the evening more regular citizens started coming in. A parent with kids wasn't an unusual sight.

New Waterparks Open All Across City

Still Before Crest of Maumee - at River City Feb 8, '08 from fairplaybeach on Vimeo.

Call for Volunteers Done

The LPAC Blog is reporting that volunteers are no longer needed for sandbagging. FWOB has flood related lnks here, here and here.

Volunteers Wanted for Sandbagging

1982 Fort Wayne Flood - Image from J-G Archives @ mrbc.org

It's doesn't look like this yet... But volunteers are needed to help fill sandbags.

(Fort Wayne - WANE) The City of Fort Wayne is asking for volunteers to help fill sandbags to aid in flood-fighting efforts. Volunteers should report to the Street Department located at 1701 S. Lafayette Street. Volunteers will be needed throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

Clay levee construction and sandbagging has begun at the Ross-Michaels area at Superior Street, the Woodhurst Neighborhood, Berry and Thieme and the NIPSCO parking lot.

Four areas have been set up where people can make sandbags. The Street Department has placed sand and bags at the following locations:

- Portage Middle School - 3521 Taylor St.
- Broadview Florist - 5409 Winchester Rd.
- Taylor University - 1025 W. Rudisill Blvd. (parking lot on the south side of Rudisill)
- Southwest Conservation Club - 5701 Bluffton Rd.

Anyone with questions related to flooding can call 311.

County Road Closures

Volleyball leagues are still on for tonight but I want people to know about road closings so that alternate routes can be planned. WANE has a listing here.

St. Joe Road between Eby and Notestine at 1:35 pm