It really is happening! After a hitch with locks and keys, things have been resolved and Monday is the day! Starting Monday (July 21), all the bridge games will be at our new home in Midtown Square. Scott has been busy finding all the things we need to make this a wonderful space to play bridge. Indeed, he is making it so nice, you might just want to hang out even if you are not playing! Finding the room may be a little tricky the first time, but it will be easy once you have been there. 

There are a few available parking spaces on the North side of the building (1st Street) but alternatively it works well to park on the West side of the building (toward Hwy 15). If you enter on the North side, take the stairs up one flight and we are the first door on the right on the second floor. Otherwise, enter the Midtown Square Mall from the West parking lot and bear left as you go. Go through a door into the Midtown Square Office Building (attached to the Mall) and you can take the elevator or stairs there to the second floor. On the second floor, continue down the corridor to the North side of the building and we are the last door on the left. There may not be a sign or number on the door just yet, but we are there!

Matt Belau of Rochester writes a wonderful blog about bridge happenings in Minnesota (Minnesota Table Talk). He keeps tabs of all sorts of information and statistics and updates it daily. It is worth checking out. Here is an abbreviated version of a July1 entry.

Twin Cities Metro area club tables are off by -2.0% so far this year (3,010 vs 3,072 last year).  Outstate club tables are up by +6.5% over the same period (1,970 vs 1,849), but as is typically the case with statistics, there's more to the story.  There's no greater effort made by a Minnesota club to drum up players and provide their bridge players with opportunities (and fun) than the St Cloud DBC covering Greater Central Minnesota - and it shows.  All of the outstate's increase during this period came from St Cloud, who picked up +130 tables since last year.  Without those St Cloud numbers, outstate Minnesota tables were essentially flat over the first half of 2025 (-0.2%), with statewide tables off by -1.4%.

We're all familiar with the present trend in table counts, and of course it's not a trend that is limited to Minnesota, nor is it a trend that's likely to change.  But since we are unable to bottle whatever is in the water up in St Cloud, it's all the more important to help out at your local club - volunteering, teaching, encouraging new members and being an active part of your local club (and unit!).  That can only help our 2nd half 2025 table counts and (more importantly) our bridge community overall.

Bookmark his blog and look daily. Or you can find a link from our homepage under Useful Links.

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

• Open Monday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m., Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive, St. Cloud
• TwoNinetyNiners Game Monday Evenings 6:00, Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South, Sartell
• Open Tuesday Mornings, 8:30 a.m., Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South, Sartell
• Open Thursday Evening, 6:00 p.m. St Cloud Labor Home, 1903 4th St N, St Cloud (Team Game on Third Thursday of Month)
• Open Friday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m., Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive, St. Cloud
• Team Game First Friday Morning 8:30 Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive, St. Cloud