Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | July 22, 2024 | wbjournal.com in 2024. While candlepin's glory days are yet to return, younger alley owners are making their way into the space, revitalizing older bowling centers and planning new ones, inspiring hope the Worcester-born pastime will live on for future generations. A New England tradition Candlepin was invented in 1880 by Justin White, the owner of a billiards and bowling parlor on Pearl Street in Worcester, according to the Worcester Historical Museum. e game has since spread, albeit almost entirely confined to New England and Atlantic Canada. Over the decades, the pastime became a bit of a cultur- al staple in Massachusetts, regularly appearing on local television in the 1970s and 80s and leading to construction of dozens of alleys across the state. e main difference between ten-pin and candlepin comes down to size and shape. Candlepins come in at under three inches in diameter. e bowling balls BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Staff Writer I f you want to go bowling in Central Massachusetts, you have a choice to make. One option is ten-pin bowling. Simply referred to as "bowling" just about everywhere in the country, the sport is oen referred to as "big-ball bowling" in New England. Why the regional nickname for ten- pin? Because the other bowling option in the region is candlepin, of course. Both games feature the same amount of pins and the same basic concept: Roll the ball down the lane, knocking over as many pins as possible. But differences in equipment and difficulty make candlepin uniquely distinct from its sibling sport. In this age, with endless entertainment options and the proliferation of ten-pin, candlepin might have gone the way of the dodo bird. However, it has proven resilient. Aer a few decades of mostly contracting, the sport seems to be on more solid footing are soball-sized and lack finger holes, coming in at around 2.5 pounds, less than half the weight of a youth-size ten-pin ball. e physics of candlepin don't allow for the typical curved shot seen in ten-pin to be effective. Instead, bowlers typically fire a straight shot hard at the front pin, hoping to hit it just slightly off-center. In theory, the ball should deflect one way, taking care of the pins on one half of the frame, while the pin bounces off to the other side of the frame, cutting down the rest. In reality, it seems to rarely work that way; a shot looking and feeling perfect out of a bowler's hand may result in just a few measly pins scatter- ing to the floor. But that's part of the appeal, according to aficionados of the game. "It's harder. I think that's what makes it a great game," said Jim Shook, owner of Harvard Lanes in Harvard. "It does have the drawback in the sense that you're not going to get as many strikes as you want, but that's just how it is." Status quo Even before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted business activity and changed consumer's habits, there was talk of candlepin's slow demise. At least eight candlepin centers in Massachusetts have closed since 2000, including Ficco's Bowladrome in Frank- lin, which closed in 2015 aer 79 years of operation, and Colonial Bowling Center in Worcester, which closed in May 2020 aer 60 years, leaving the city where candlepin was invented with no publicly available alleys. Alley owners were reaching re- tirement age, and other centers, like Colonial, were sitting on land valued by developers. However, in the past few years, the game has seemingly regained its footing, said Maria Angelotti, executive director of the International Candlepin Bowling Association. "e state of candlepin right now is status quo, which is amazing when you consider how old it is and we're coming out of a pandemic," she said. Based in Erving, the ICBA serves as the governing body for the sport, which involves things like managing the sport's hall of fame and ensuring lanes at mem- ber bowling centers are compliant with regulations. A key factor in preventing decline of the sport is the injection of some youth- ful enthusiasm, Angelotti said. "I would say 10 or so years ago, 75% to 80% were older proprietors," she said. "Now, you've probably got a 60% [older] to 40% [younger] split." Youthful energy One younger face who brings a newer perspective to the game is Shook, the 39-year-old owner of Harvard Lanes. Shook had spent most of his career working in the soware space. But one day in the summer of 2023, Shook was bowling at what was then called 204 Lanes when he noticed a for-sale sign. With the support of a U.S. Small Business Administration loan and fi- nancing from Fitchburg-based Rollstone Bank & Trust, he purchased the 74-year old alley for $1 million in January. "When the opportunity presented itself, I thought it would be a lot of fun," Shook said. "e prior owner was looking to sell it as a com- mercial space, but I wanted to make sure it stayed a candle- pin alley." Shook isn't the only one saving centers with retiring owners from the wrecking ball. Joshua Sundberg, owner of Acton Bowladrome, purchased the 58-year-old Bayberry Bowling Center in Spencer for $800,000 in March. When he took over Harvard Lanes, Shook revamped the space, refurbishing the lanes and applying a paint job, in- tending to make the space feel more in- viting. Utilizing his soware background, he's considering creating a mobile app for the venue. ese types of upgrades are key to the sport's future, said Angelotti. "at is a must for anybody who's buying spent old centers to upgrade them," she said, referencing amenities like automatic scoring, food and drink options, and modern arcade games, "People want to come aer work. ey can get a bite to eat, and they can have a Candlepin COMEBACK Maria Angelotti, executive director, International Candlepin Bowling Association More than 140 years aer its invention in Worcester, alley owners and enthusiasts seek to bring new energy to a once-fading pastime Peter Gardiner records the score for his candlepin bowling game with his grandson Fox Gardiner (left) and wife Olwen Gardiner at Harvard Lanes, which has tried to keep reminders of the game's historic past, like manual scoring. PHOTOS | MATT WRIGHT

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