EAST CENTRAL — With the province’s go-head, bowling alleys and halls across the province are reopening, including Tisdale, Melfort, Humboldt and Nipawin.
They were allowed to reopen as of July 6.
Kemway Lanes
Kemway Lanes in Humboldt is operating with every other lane available, to a maximum of four lanes, as well as reduced hours from 1:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. seven days a week.
Eric Ruthven, the lanes’ owner, said it was a nice surprise to hear from the province that the alleys are allowed to open.
“People were always asking me, “When are you opening? When are you opening?,” Ruthven said. “We were really never mentioned, they [the province] mentioned bingo halls, and casinos, and that type of thing. When they actually said bowling centres can open, it was a nice surprise.”
All patrons are asked to sanitize their hands as they enter the facility, and all balls will be individually sanitized after each group.
While the alley is accepting walk-in bowling, they’re asking that anyone wishing to bowl to phone ahead so they can prepare.
“We’re looking forward to coming back, and I want them to make sure they can feel safe coming in, because we’re being very diligent about all our cleaning. We take this very seriously. We want things back to as normal as we can.”
Kemway Lanes can be contacted at 306-682-2344.
Tisdale Bowling Lanes
Tisdale Bowling Lanes was ready to reopen the first day it was announced.
Danni Ma, daughter of the owner, Li Ma, said her father is happy to be able to provide a place for people in the community to have fun.
“One of the bowlers who came this afternoon to play said there was nowhere to go for having fun and doing some activities, so he’s pretty glad we reopened,” Ma said.
“Of course, there are challenges but he feels like everything is getting back on track. In regards to cleaning and sanitizing everything there, it’s not a challenge to him and the staff member because we do cleanings on time on a regular basis. It’s just a bit more to do. ”
The bowling alley will be open for walk-ins Friday and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. For weekdays and Sundays they are only open for customers with reservations.
For social distancing, only four of the eight lanes are operational.
Each customer is instructed to choose a specific colour bowling ball, which will help avoid contact with others.
“We have a sign on the carpet to follow. First you pay, then you pick up any drinks or snacks, and then you go right to your lanes. So it’s like a cycle you go through so you don’t have to just randomly walk everywhere.”
Tisdale Bowling Lanes can be contacted at 306-873-2515.
Melfort Bowl
Rick Lang, partner owner with Melfort Bowl, said that as of July 9, their alley is currently operating with a maximum of two lanes to maintain effective social distancing.
“This summer’s no different than any other summer except we’re only allowed to have so many people in the building at one time,” Lang said.
Melfort Bowl doesn’t operate with specific hours, and instead operates off of booking lanes by phone.
“I’d have people phone me on New Year’s Eve and say, ‘we want to come bowling at midnight’ and I say, ‘Okay, we’ll make that work.’ That’s how we’ve always operated,” he said. “If I can make it work, we’ll make it work.”
Melfort Bowl can be contacted at 306-752-2608.
Nipawin Bowl
Nipawin Bowl reopened July 9, under the same hours as before the pandemic, but with only three lanes to comply with social distancing.
The alley is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, with Sunday open to reservations only.
All children under the age of 14 are required to have parental supervision.
Nipawin Bowl can be contacted at 306-862-5262.
