If you do the math, Marysville Lanes has been standing
for 59 years. 59 years is a long time for a bowling to stay alive, and
Marysville should be proud. After all, the city of Columbus once had 47
bowling centers and currently only has 16.
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| Homeless shelter bed knitted from grocery bags |
Those involved with the bowling alley believe Marysville Lanes provides something
special for the community, “The Marysville Lanes provides family entertainment
for the city. We offer a lot of family specials to make it affordable for a
family to come in and bowl with a pitcher of pop and some pizza.” They also
offer a program in the summer called, “Kids Bowl Free.” All you have to do is
go online and register and each kid can come in and bowl 2 games free everyday.
The only cost is shoe rental. Last summer they had over 1,000 kids sign up for the
program!
Aside from a friendly-family environment, they also have
a competitive side and offer a lot of bowling leagues for men, women, and
youth. The crew has loved watching their bowling leagues develop, “We’ve
offered leagues for years. A lot of bowlers that started in our youth league
are now bowling in our adult league. We have an annual sign up for youth
leagues and if you’re interested in an adult league you can just come in and
give us your name and number. Someone is always looking for a bowler!”
The Bowling Alley does not hesitate to get involved in
our community. They’ll let any kind of organization host a fundraiser, they’ve
had sports teams, girl scout troops, and schools raise money at the lanes. During the Christmas season they have a food drive
for the Marysville Food Pantry, in April they host “Bowl for Kids Sake”
through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, and they also collect Walmart and
Kroger grocery bags to give them to the homeless shelter in the Columbus to
knit beds. They are really neat!
They host 3 high school teams, Fairbanks, North Union,
and Marysville. They talked about some of the rewarding things that come from
running a local bowling alley, “We love watching people meet each other here
and hosting special Olympics. We just love to see their smiles and it’s neat to
see them form friendships like that!”
The crew at Marysville wants the community to know that
they are open for anything; business parties, New Years Eve parties, birthday
parties, fundraisers, they won’t turn anything away!
The Marysville Lanes crew compared the bowling industry
to a roller coaster, there are a lot of highs and lows. It’s in one of those
lows, but it’s trying to come up that hill again. As a community we can help
out by visiting the Lanes for some relaxed fun. I know I did, although, I won’t
share my score because it’s embarrassing to say the least.
Thank you, Marysville Lanes, for making our community so
much more than a town 45 minutes Northwest of Columbus for over 50 years!
Editor's Note: Marysville Lanes is located at 1189 Columbus Avenue. Please visit their website for hours, rates, and other information.
