News
New ownership for Newburg's bowling alley
Tyler Ohmann
10/23/2012
Bowlers in Bottineau have been without a place to roll for more than a year have another option to hit the lanes.
Leland Severson, of Bottineau, recently purchased Lam’s Lanes in Newburg, 28 miles southwest of Bottineau.
Severson, a former league bowler at Tommy Turtle Lanes, before it was tragically burned down in July of 2011, was itching to bowl, and he found a way to scratch that itch.
“Last year a couple of the guys were talking, ‘hey, lets get 20 guys together and build a bowling alley in Bottineau,’” Severson said. “I knew that with the price of a bowling alley that it wasn’t going to happen. Then this was in the paper, and Kurt (Carpenter) mentioned it, and said ‘hey, a bowling alley, you should buy it,’ and that stuck in my head.”
“I looked in the paper, and saw that it was $22,000 and I was like, ‘why not?’,” Severson added.
He then purchased the alley, which has been owned by the Newburg Economic Development Corporation as a community alley since the late 1990s according to Severson.
“I talked to the guys from the EDC, about trying to keep the bowling going,” Severson said. “And it sounded like the thing to do.”
The EDC had been in talks with neighboring Suzy Q’s bar, and a local taxidermy shop who were interested in tearing the lanes out and using it to expand their businesses, but those plans fell through.
Severson knew there would be former Bottineau bowlers that would be interested in forming a league, and hoped the Newburg teams would continue as well, and they have.
“I knew we had Bottineau guys that wanted to bowl and that would bring the numbers up again,” Severson said. “It actually turned out a lot better than we thought. I thought we would get six teams or maybe eight teams, but we got nine, and almost 10.”
Men’s night began Wednesday, Oct. 10, with eight teams competing during two shifts beginning at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. One team had a bye.
Each of the nine teams consist of a five or six bowlers, five are from Newburg and four from Bottineau Severson said.
“We went a year without bowling, and it is just too far to go to Minot,” Severson said. “There was one employee, and it seemed like the place pretty much ran itself, and I didn’t want to make a job out of it, but I just wanted to keep bowling.”
Along with the Wednesday mens league there is also womens league on Thursday nights, though Severson said there are not enough bowlers for a true league, there are some ladies who have come to bowl anyway. Womens league bowling hadn’t been around in Newburg for about five years Severson said, so it was harder to revive.
Also available for those interested will be a ‘Rock ‘N Bowl’ beginning soon on Friday nights once or twice a month, and the lanes are available to rent for birthday parties for two hour periods.
Anyone wishing to bowl on the Wednesday mens league can contact Severson at (701) 871-0096. To partcipate in womens league call Elma Severson at (701) 871-0097 and to arrange birthday parties call Jonah at (701) 509-1673.