Maine community unites to save candle bowling tradition

ELSWORTH, Maine – pins break. Bowling balls are rolling. funky town plays on stereo.

A typical Saturday November afternoon at D’Amanda’s, a bowling alley and candle arcade in Ellsworth, Maine. The atmosphere at D’Amanda’s may seem like an ordinary bowling alley, but at first glance it becomes obvious that this is not a classic 10-pin big-ball bowling alley.

Eleven-year-old Lola Stratton holds a ball of candles. It is small, about the size of a grapefruit. She looks at the pins, which are as narrow as large toothpicks. Although the candlestick allows three throws and the small ball makes it easy, it is difficult to knock down all 10 pins.

“It really doesn’t matter what I do personally, because I always lose. But it suits me,” says Lola.

Lola makes her first throw and it’s nothing. Her second throw is more accurate and she knocks down three pins. Knocked down pins are called “dead wood” and remain in the lane until the last roll.

Roller #3 slides down the center of the lane and knocks down three more pins.

“Ouch!” Lola says. She is happy. This is one of her best shots.

Candle bowling is not well known in much of the United States.

According to the Candlepin International Bowling Association, it began in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1880. From there it spread throughout New England and the Maritimes of Canada. Today, the region continues to be a candlestick country.

Lola is bowling with a group of friends. Earlier in the game, the balls stopped returning to their lane. So they grab the boss, Autumn Mowery.

Movery is 20 years old and knows how to solve most lane problems on the spot. She started working here in 2019 and has fallen in love with sports and building relationships with clients. In 2020, her mom bought the business and Mowery started day to day operations.

Mowery and his friend, who volunteered, remove the lid from the ball chute and find a jam in the return of the ball. As she sorts out the jam, Mowery explains that because the equipment is old, each track has its own characteristics.

“I love these tracks. They definitely make me uncomfortable. But they still work for me – some of them,” she says.

Pinsetters are 1949 prototypes. Therefore Mowery cannot order new parts. Meanwhile, she uses Lane 5 as a scrap yard. Many improvements have been made by the previous owners over the years.

“It’s all duct tape and chewing gum in the back,” she says.

When customers come, Mowery apologizes in advance for the breakdowns.

Soon enough, track 1 is down. Mowery runs back.

Beyond the alleyways, a symphony of hum and clank through a jungle of motors, chains and conveyors. Mowery checks the problem: the brush is not picking up the pins.

“Too cold,” she says. “They don’t move the way they should.”

Mowery resets a few switches and puts the lane back on track. She expects this problem to continue all day as the weather has turned cold and she is still waiting for her fuel oil to be delivered.

This is just one of the many stressors Mowery faces on a daily basis. She lives up the alley and often makes repairs before one or two in the morning. She is the only employee. The roof is leaking. Heating and cooling a huge building is expensive. She even dropped out that semester of college to sleep in.

Muveri is determined – against all odds – to keep the alley of candles alive. She says the tradition is fading because many owners are unable to maintain and new candle parts are too expensive to buy. Many lanes are closing or switching to the classic 10-pin connector.

Regulars appreciate the effort to keep the tradition alive.

“I love seeing her go out of her way to keep the original details. And I take my hat off to her because I know it’s definitely not an easy task,” says Sam Sawyer, a woman who has been coming here for years and whose family has been coming to this lane for generations.

“I have such distinct and fond memories of me and my cousins ​​going out, like buying a Pizza Hut, and then coming here. It was the most interesting place,” she says.

Sawyer is here today for his niece’s birthday. The family arrived hours in advance to meet at D’Amanda’s.

“It means a lot to so many people here, it really is like another home for us. So I think it’s a matter of saving lives for future generations,” she says.

Mowery knows how much a candlelight means to her community, and she wants more cities across the country to have one too. It hopes to expand into Maine and then spread the sport outside of New England.

She created a TikTok account, @EllsworthCandlepinAlley, to talk about it. For now, she is gathering people in Ellsworth, Maine, one candle at a time.

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