EVP Tour pro volleyball at North Beach in Racine, Wisconsin

EVP Tour: Pro beach volleyball at Racine’s North Beach this Saturday

June 24, 2009 9:08 AM

More posts like this: Racine, Wisconsin, attractions, events, sports, tourism.

Note: This post pertains to a June, 2009 event at Racine’s North Beach. For listings of current and upcoming Racine-area events, please see my Calendar of Events & Festivals.

We were standing near a couple of the volleyball players during the championships last September when one guy remarked to the other, “This is a really nice beach.”

“Yeah it is,” agreed his grinning teammate.

Both of them were members of Team Honolulu.

Racine’s North Beach is an inspiring success story, and the Extreme Volleyball Professionals Tour is its showcase event. For the last two years, the players have voted Racine the best stop on the EVP Tour (see the video at Facebook).

View Mark Czerniec’s Racine & beyond in a larger map

The Racine Open tournament will be held this Saturday, June 27, immediately north of North Beach Oasis, which sells food and beverages. North Beach is located just north of Racine’s harbor — and so just north of downtown Racine, which is where the festivities begin with a Friday night welcome party at the Ivanhoe Pub & Eatery (213 Main St, 262-637-4730).

There is differing information at the Web sites of the The Racine County Convention and Visitors Bureau, but the event seems to be scheduled to start at at 7 a.m. Saturday (or 9 a.m.).

According to the RCCVB, you should be able to see:

Teams from Hermosa Beach, Santa Barbara, Chicago, Seattle, Detroit, Miami Beach, St. Louis, Racine, Naples Long Island and many more. 2009 top players Mark Paaluhi, Wayne Scott, Kim Whitney, Carrie Wright, and “players of the year” Mike Dauernhiem and Tara Kuk. They all be battling for the $10,000 purse.

Or $6,000, anyway. The men’s and women’s finals should get underway at around 4 p.m.

The event is free to watch, but the EVP Tour does offer a Priority Seating Package that includes a T-shirt, tacos, courtside seating, and a photo with the championship team.

Saturday night, there’s a post-event party back at Ivanhoe Pub & Eatery.

So far, the weather forecast for Racine calls for a very warm Saturday under cloudy skies with some chance of thunderstorms.