Bowling In Small Town Iowa

I love the small bowling houses in Iowa, those with 10 lanes or so. That's why I thought it was cool to visit the 8-lane Belle Plaine Bowl for today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette. Belle Plaine Bowl began as a 6-lane house when it opened Aug. 1, 1959, and soon added another pair of lanes.

I stopped at Belle Plaine Bowl not only because it's now 50 years old, but because it's hosting the State Legion team competition tournament in March and April and because I love the diorama of 10 pins and a bowling ball heading for the pocket that's built into the front of the building above the entrance. Kelly and Glenn Clark, pictured with the diorama, bought the bowling alley in 2004.

I'm familiar with Benton County bowling. I remember the old Keystone Turner Hall which had the ball returns that rolled the ball back to you between and nearly level with the lanes. While it looked cool, that ball coming back at me was distracting the one time I bowled on lanes like this.

I began league bowling in 1977 at Berry's Bowl in Vinton. It's a 14-lane house that was pretty new at the time, replacing a smaller house just a block away. But, even at 14 lanes it seemed small and intimate. You could still see everyone who was bowling, not like at the 32-lane Cedar Rapids Bowl where I bowl on Thursday nights now.

Also in Vinton, at the time I started league bowling, the American Legion (since destroyed by fire) downtown had a 2-lane bowling alley, just off the basement bar. The Legion ran an 8-team men's league, with two teams bowling each night, Monday through Thursday. You had to check the schedule each week not only to see which team you bowled, but which night you were up.

Bowling proprietors have had a tough go of late. It seemed that interest in the recreational activity was waning. Both the Clarks in Belle Plaine and Mark Petersen, who owns Cedar Lanes (another 8-lane house) in Tipton have told me so in the last year. That's why they do what they can, including holding special events and hosting tournaments, to entice people to come bowling.

Yet, if you look around you still see bowling video games in taverns and you can even bowl on your Wii game console. Of course, in neither case, do you actually roll a 14- or 16-pound ball down a maple lane.

Here's hoping the fact that bowling has become a sanctioned sport for high school girls and boys helps it make a comeback. I'd like to see those small town bowling alleys fill up again.