Employees of The Bowling Alley gather ahead of its reopening date next week. Photo provided

By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – Bowling lanes in Warsaw are preparing to reopen to the public next week.

The Bowling Alley

The Bowling Alley announced today it plans to reopen in one week, Tuesday, June 16.

This is the first Tuesday of Indiana’s Back on Track Phase IV, currently slated to begin on June 14. As part of its reopening plan, the company announced several service changes:

To better maintain social distancing and meet the 50 percent capacity requirement instituted by Phase IV, The Bowling Alley will be limiting bowling to every other lane, for a maximum of eight groups.

Each and every available bowling ball will be cleaned and sanitized with a CDC approved viricidal agent between groups. To facilitate this, customers will be limited to a small selection of bowling balls which will remain at the lane.

All hard surfaces at a lane will be cleaned and sanitized after each group.

The Bowling Alley will continue and expand its policy of cleaning and sanitizing bowling shoes with a CDC approved viricidal and antibacterial spray.

The Game Room will be reduced to twelve players and a few guardians at a time.

The Game Room will have a staff member tasked solely with maintaining sanitization. That staff member will have no other duties in the facility.

All employees will wear masks.

All employees will be screened before beginning their shift.

Extra hand sanitizer stations will be available.

Hard surfaces will be deep cleaned each night after the last customer leaves and throughout the day.

The Bowling Alley will maintain special hours for its Seniors’ Leagues and other at-risk populations. The company encourages interested parties to call for more information.

“We are so excited to have our customers back at The Bowling Alley,” said Jennifer Stichter, general manager of The Bowling Alley. “We have spent many hours researching, understanding, training, and implementing additional precautions to try to make our environment safe for every person who walks through the doors. We look forward to seeing smiles, hearing laughter, and creating memories once again.”

As part of its commitment to maintaining a family-friendly entertainment center, The Bowling Alley also announced today the continuation of Kids Bowl Free, a program providing free bowling to youths in the community. Previous years have seen each child eligible for two games of bowling per day, but there are some changes coming this summer, said Stichter. “Because of these unprecedented times, we have decided to change how Kids Bowl Free operates in our center this year. Instead of the traditional two games, we have opted to give each kid 30 minutes of bowling per day.”

Stichter says she hopes that this change will help the company provide a great experience for each guest. “This year, timed bowling just makes more sense.”

Warsaw Bowl

Ted Wright of Warsaw Bowl noted the lanes will open to the public on Monday, June 15. The noon start is open to the public, and the lanes will stay open in the evening until the last person leaves.

“We are right now looking at 50 percent capacity when we open back up, and no groups over 100,” Wright said. “We have one league that needs to finish from March. They have about five or six weeks to go. They voted to finish.”

Wright also offered social distancing guidelines for Warsaw Bowl will have every other lane open for the time being. He’s prepared to open in normal capacity in July if the state government issues the all clear.

“Our bar will be open, but with the size of the bar already being small, there isn’t much room to use it,” joked Wright. “We have the seats six feet apart but it only leaves room for about four people. But it’s still open.”

Wawasee Bowl

Officials at Wawasee Bowl were contacted for this story, but did not return request for information ahead of the press deadline.