PORT ANGELES — Like bowlers taking four-step or five-step approaches to the lane, bowling alley operators in Port Angeles and Forks have tackled reopening in a different way after lanes statewide were allowed to resume operations last week after being shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March 17.
In Forks, Sunset Lanes owner Wade McCoy operated the eight-lane alley’s snack bar during the bowling closure, bringing in about 10 percent to 20 percent of normal revenues. Sunset Lanes has reopened for league practices before league play begins in September.
“The day the notice came out, I rebooted our computer system and tested out the lanes. We started the next day,” McCoy said.
Laurel Lanes in Port Angeles remains closed as Vern Elkhart, 84, who has owned the lanes since 1966, and his daughter Crystal Dare figure out exactly how to operate under the new bowling regulations while being mindful of a growing number of COVID-19 cases in Clallam County.
“Our phone has been ringing off the hook,” Dare said. “We know bowlers want to come back. For many of our senior bowlers, this was their exercise and a social event.”
Dare, the longtime director of food and beverage operations at the Space Needle, returned to Port Angeles to help her dad operate the 16-lane alley.
She said Laurel Lanes will reopen soon and that the alley won’t go the way of Everett’s Glacier Lanes or Centralia’s Fairway Lanes, which have closed for good during the pandemic.
“We will come back, I’m not worried about that,” Dare said. “It’s going to open again, the date I don’t know, but hopefully by October we can get league play going. We are going to come back, it will just take some time. What we want to avoid is opening up and having to close again because we get a rise in cases in the county and have to move back a phase.”
With the lanes closed, McCoy was worried about the future of bowling in Forks, having worked there as a high school student and as owner/operator for the past 18 years.
“I was afraid to look at my [bank] balance,” McCoy said. “I knew if I looked, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. And even then, I couldn’t sleep for five months, tossing and turning every night.”
McCoy, Elkhart and Dare all said they were surprised by last week’s announcement to allow bowling centers to reopen. Rules had tightened further by late July, with reopening of lanes only set for Phase 4, the same phase that would allow spectators at sporting events.
Dare said she and between 40 and 60 bowling alley owners and supporters have held weekly Zoom meetings to organize lobbying efforts with Gov. Jay Inslee’s office.
McCoy said grassroots efforts, including protests designed to bring attention to the precarious status of bowling allies on National Bowling Day on Aug. 8, helped secure attention for the cause and produced the quick turnaround in rulemaking.
The effect of the new rules, which mandate mask wearing, limit bowling to league play or practice for league play, allow for only two bowlers per lane at a time and mandate strict cleaning and disinfecting routines, will be felt differently by each alley.
“Open play was a higher portion of our revenue than league play,” Dare said. “And we can’t hold birthday parties, which was one of our most popular options. On weekends, we could do five or six per day.”
McCoy said the new regulations aren’t overly stringent for his operation.
“I don’t see anything in that list of requirements being a hindrance,” he said. “There are probably one or two people I know that won’t be able to participate because they can’t wear a mask due to health concerns. We will have to figure out which option we pick for our four-player league, but we could split them up across different allies, bowl at different times. There are solutions.”
Dare said she also has to get Laurel Lanes’ kitchen back in operation before reopening.
“We have to order food and supplies; it’s like opening a brand-new restaurant, a new reboot,” Dare said.
Laurel Lanes has taken advantage of the time off as the alley’s restrooms were remodeled during its closure.
“They were outdated and needed a face lift,” Dare said. “We’ve added touch-less soap dispensers and hand sanitizers. And we did some painting and freshened things up.”
And despite his age, Elkhart said he wasn’t worried about potentially contracting the virus.
“I suppose I am in the danger age group, but I’m either here or at home,” Elkhart said. “I’m not going barhopping or partying or with any large group.”
And Dare said she’s comfortable having her dad providing customer service at the front desk.
“I’m not worried because he sticks right around the bowling alley,” Dare said.
For more information on Sunset Lanes and upcoming league play, call 360-374-5323
For more information on Laurel Lanes, call 360-457-5858.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
