Barbara Lawlor, Gold Hill.     On the Saturday before the Fourth of July, a bunch of Gold Hill residents tried to shrug off the feeling that there was something they should be doing. The day had arrived: the day of the annual Poggio D'Oro Bocce Tournament—but this year it wasn't happening. The day came and went and the unsettled residents knew they had to fix the absence .

Usually the tournament was held at the home of Ken and Susan Fernalld, who moved to Boulder in January. Ken says the new owner had promised to keep the court and to keep the tournament alive, but he didn't. You can't play Bocce without a court.

Bocce is originally an Italian game which is related to bowling. It is played on a court that can vary in size. The game is started by the first team throwing a small ball, the jack, from one end of the court to a zone at the far end. If the first team misses twice, the other team is awarded the opportunity to put the ball anywhere they choose within the zone.

The team with the closest ball to the jack is the only team that can score points, one for every ball closer to the jack than the closest ball of the other team. Players may knock either the jack or other balls out of the way. When the players learn to throw accurately the game becomes complex. Most of the past Gold Hill players have become adept at throwing, but Bocce always has the element of surprise.

You could probably say that the Gold Hill Bocce players were feeling withdrawal symptoms at the beginning of the summer. They wanted to play and, to keep the tournament alive.

Gold Hill Bocce began when Ken and Susan visited the Exploratorium in San Francisco, claimed to be the best science museum in the world. While they were there they went to the Aquatic Park and stopped to watch some Italians play Bocce. Ken, being a curious fellow, looked the game up on the internet and decided to build a court. It was 1999.

"I built it to be a public court and people came over to practice and play each other, says Ken. "We began talking about having a tournament. Four couples from Gold Hill had traveled to Italy together and came back and talked about the game. We had the first tournament in 2001 and have had one every year since then."

Gold Hill residents are tenacious. When they want something, they figure out a way to make it happen, and they wanted to restore the tournament. A few key people went to work. The first move was to find a place; it was apparent that Kirby's Field, the site of softball games, would work. Permission was granted by the owner and the project was under way. Bear Carlson was the mover/shaker and the organizer; Ken Fernalld was the architect and the designer of the court; and Max Yeager was the excavator. Without his equipment, it would have been an impossible endeavor.

The rest of the labor and equipment were provided by the players, by the residents who believed in the cause, and by some businesses who donated materials. It all came together last week. The court was completed and the tournament was set for Saturday, August 30, only two months late for the 14th annual event.

This called for a celebration. On Friday night before the tournament, a potluck dinner party was held for the players, workers, and anyone involved in the project. The guests decided to have a dress-up affair and some of them came in outfits that were fit for the Kentucky Derby fashion show. Gold Hillers don't often dress up for potlucks.

As they speared jumbo shrimp and dipped them into sauce, as they sipped their wine or swallowed their beer, they discussed the upcoming event and congratulated themselves on a job well done. This year, no one care much who won the coveted trophy that lived in the Gold Hill Museum. They were just happy to have a tournament at all.

Resident Heidi Kessler said she was in the tournament and she has thrown only three balls in her life and has never played a game. "I figured entering the tournament was a social thing. Everyone helped make the court and it was fun."

Norman Skarstad was dressed in a Shakespearean outfit. He said this tournament would be his second and that he had almost won two years ago when his partner was Edie Eilender, a Bocce regular who was unable to attend the tournament this year. Norman said, "I am planning on winning by using lots of body language. After all, it is just luck.

The court is so new, it will be uneven, unpredictable."

The court surface is made of crusher fines, which is heavy granular powder stamped to a surface that won't blow away. Norman said he spent five hours the preceding day sifting out the big pieces. He said he hoped that someday the tournament could become a mountain rivalry event, with bragging rights among other mountain towns. "It is an eccentric game, different—but anyone can pick it up fast."

Susan Fernalld and Rebecca Wilder, last year's trophy winner, remember that it had been the tournament from hell: it was cold and rainy and the court was flooded, but they went for it and won. Since Ken Fernalld always organized the previous tournaments, this would be the first year he ever participated.

John Sands, the host of the party, called for a toast and a cheer for the new court and gave crowns to the three men who made it possible: Max Yeager, Ken Fernalld, and Bear Carlson. Bear says he had the easiest job. "All I had to do was say, why don't we do this?"

Sands said, "Tomorrow we have a tournament. Let the party begin."

Saturday turned out to be a perfect day. People who had never attended a Bocce tournament showed up, probably because the court is now in the middle of town and more accessible. Newcomers ruled the day, dominating the winning brackets: people who had rarely or never played before.

The winners were Boyd Brown and his brother-in-law, Dick Umberger, who had never played before, from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Norm Skarstad and Rick Sinner were the runners-up. Old timers and former winners put up a good fight and even though they lost, they were happy to see new players fight for the trophy.

This year, all of the Gold Hill players and supporters were the winners of the tournament, a grand Gold Hill tradition.