Harvest Moon Festival

We had a full house at our annual Harvest Moon party on Monday, September 21st.  We squeezed in over 90 people for the meal and 22 tables (88 players!) for the bridge game. A wonderful chicken dinner was catered and the room just buzzing! We had players from as far away as Detroit Lakes and St Paul participating. 

The buffet lines opened, tables were filled and then Scott gave a "state of the club" message and two unsung heroes were honored. The first unsung hero whose praises were sung was Mark Doucette for all the work he has done in the background for getting our club site ready, procuring equipment for it, and helping out wherever needed. (And cooking pizzas for Tuesday lesson attendees!) Mark travelled hundreds of miles collecting items for the club. The second honoree was Shari Pretzer. Shari has been willing to drop everything when asked, to come in and partner with someone whose partner didn't make it (Although, we couldn't get her to skip her trip to Scotland to play in Harvest Moon).  She comes with a smile and for every tournament, she brings in dozens of her coveted deviled eggs. Both honorees are well deserving of the award.

And there was bridge! Fifteen tables in the open and seven in the point limited section. In the limited section, Ken and Margie Kappes (we should see more of her!) were first North/South with a 71% game and Tracy LeBlanc and her sister Karla Nornberg came in first  East/West in a tight match. In the Open game, David G. Hanson and Rhonda Rossman came in first North/South and Rick and Mary Olson squeaked into first place East/West. 

The event was a wonderful success; thanks to all who worked hard to make it so great. A good time was had by all.

On Wednesday, September 9th, we had our special Wednesday game, a mentor game where beginning players were paired up with mor experienced players. It was an overwhelming success! We  filled 10 full tables for the evening with many pairs having never played together before. The East/West winners and overall winners as well were Sue Halsey and Jane Curtis. In the North/South direction, Don Nierengarten and Alan Hanson took first place. The session was lively and fun with lots of discussion after each hand. Let's do it again soon!

The Kory Solarz KnockDown Tournament was more popular than ever this year. We had 12 teams with players coming from as far as Detroit Lakes to participate! The winners of the fourth annual event were Bob Leighton, Jerry Westby, Win Anderson and Alex Warzecha. Coming in second was the team of Dan Knier, MK Imdieke, David Boushek and Connie Ginter.

After a great potluck meal, the play began in earnest and after 2 rounds of play, teams were placed into 4 brackets according to their results. Each bracket then played in a Round Robin to determine the winners. Our champions received gift cards for their reward. A drawing was held for those who did not win for a second set of gift cards, won by Rhonda Rossman, David G Hanson, Mike Leighton and Bill Schnettler.

We offer five regularly scheduled, ACBL-sanctioned, face-to-face events each week:

• Open Monday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m.,Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A
• TwoNinetyNiners Game Monday Evenings 6:00, Midtown Square 203A
• Open Tuesday Mornings, 9:15 a.m., Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A (Note change of time)
• Open Thursday Evening, 6:00 p.m. Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A (Team Game on Third Thursday of Month)
• Open Friday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m., Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A
• Team Game First Friday Morning 8:30 Midtown Square Office Bldg 203A