As the sounds of balls rolling down the lane, and the smell of pizza fills the air, citizens of Augusta meet and talk at the remodled Holiday Bowl.
Holiday Bowl closed in 2017. In 2022, current Holiday Bowl owner Lonny Pace started remodeling Holiday for the Augusta community.
“Originally, I was actually just going to keep it for myself and my friends and maybe make a club out of it, but I thought that was not very nice to do to Augusta,” Pace said. “I thought we would reopen it, and make it the probably the coolest bowling center in the United States.”
While Pace wants to make it the best bowling alley around, bowling coach Abby Emmitt likes the opportunities it will provide for the community.
“We don’t have a lot of things in Augusta for families to do or for people to just go out and do, so I think having the bowling alley open again will allow us to have the opportunity for families and groups and parties and things like that to still take place in Augusta,” Emmitt said.
Sophomore John Kant said the community will utilizne it as a place to hangout besides the swimming pool in the summer, and Emmitt thinks it will be beneficial to the bowling team.
“I think it’ll give us an advantage at home because we still have wooden lanes,” Emmitt said. “The only downside is that postseason stuff will be on synthetic lanes, but a lot of us have had a lot of practice on synthetic anyway, so that’s something that you can adapt to.”
Senior Tamra Schmutz, junior Gavin Bohon and Kant will like it because they do not have to travel to Bowlero in Wichita for practice. In past years, the bowling team practiced at The Alley, which is now known as Bowlero.
“I am looking forward to the bowling season and not having to travel to The Alley,” Bohon said.
Schmutz is looking forward to the bowling alley being open because she can try new activities. Senior Ace Helms is looking forward to it bringing back memories; he is also excited about it being the home for the bowling team.
“It is Augusta going to the Augusta Bowling Alley instead of Augusta going to the Wichita Bowling Alley,” Helms said.
With all of the changes to Holiday Bowl Pace asks the community to be patient.
“We have never opened a bowling alley before, so we will make mistakes,” Pace said. “There will be mistakes with our food, with our menu, with things, but we’ll be conscientious, and we’ll do our best to continue to grow and improve.
Pace knows customers will want to be happy.
“I believe very firmly in having a good customer experience,” Pace said.
Emmitt expects Holiday Bowl to be a good place to be.
“When I was in high school, we bowled at a Holiday Bowl for three of the four years that I played, and honestly, it was one of the greatest things because we would go and bowl for practice. Then we would get some food, and then all of us would come back and bowl cosmic bowling that night,” Emmitt said. “We would just have so much fun, being able to be in town and still get to practice the sport that we love and enjoy it.”
