American Canyon bocce ball players no longer have to go out of town to get in the game.

Flagstone and landscape material company Clark’s Rock has built American Canyon’s only bocce ball court. The old Lena’s Tavern had two bocce courts, but Lena’s closed several years ago.

The new court is open to the public, Clark’s Rock owner Howard Peterson said.

“It’s a display but meant to be used,” said Peterson as he showed the 12-by-60 foot court he and his employees built in their down time.  The court was built over a couple weeks next to the company’s main office building on Green Island Road with about $2,000 worth of materials, including a blend of crushed oyster shells for the court surface.

Peterson, who started playing bocce ball a few years ago in Napa at the insistence of his wife, Kathie, built the court partly at the suggestion of the community group Impact 94503. He said he also wanted to be able to play.

Mark Joseph, the former American Canyon city manager and Impact 94503 president, said his group had hoped to form a local bocce league and organize tournaments to raise money for the group while having fun.

“The goal was to play bocce ball and have a good time,” he said.

He approached Peterson after the city’s plans to build bocce courts bounced from park to park, so far without results.

The city considered building a bocce court under the power lines off Chaucer Court east of Highway 29. Three years ago, the city designed a court for Spikerush Circle next to Community Park 1.

But funding for that court disappeared as the city focused on developing and opening Veterans Memorial Park off Broadway.

The park opened two years ago, but the bocce courts are not expected to be built for a few years.

In May, the American Canyon City Council discussed building a bocce court at the planned senior and multi-use center on Elliott Drive. But the plans that went to bid this summer don’t include bocce courts.

Peterson, who keeps a set of bocce balls at work, predicts the sport will be popular in American Canyon.

“If they build one, they better have (plans) to have eight more,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be that popular.”

Longtime resident Fran Lemos, who has played bocce ball for years in Vallejo, tried the court at Clark’s Rock at 650 Green Island Road on Sunday with a few friends.

“I enjoyed it,” Lemos said.