Group seeking buy-in for Elmsdale bowling alley

Terry MacFarlane would like to tinker with his tractor in his garage but there's no room.

His garage is packed with more than 100 multi-coloured candlepin bowling balls, special desks used for recording bowling scores, and plastic gutters that guided countless balls away from the pins at a former bowling alley on Nova Scotia's Cape Sable Island.

MacFarlane took up bowling when he retired, but the lanes in Elmsdale, where he used to roll his strikes and spares, closed about a decade ago.  

'A place to go'

A few years after that, MacFarlane and several others in the community started work on a plan to build a new bowling alley in the area, along with a movie theatre to make it more appealing.

"What entertainment have you got in Elmsdale? We don't have it. There's a lot of our youth, they get bored," said MacFarlane. "This gives them something to do, a place to go."

The group bought the equipment now sitting in his garage, along with a few dozen pairs of shoes, and even the machines which clear and set the pins. They're just waiting for a place to put it.

They had operated as a non-profit organization. Earlier this year, the group incorporated as a business to make it easier to qualify for funding, said MacFarlane. 

East Hants Entertainment Ltd. started selling shares a month ago. The group has until early March to sell at least $250,000 worth of shares so it can qualify for a business loan.

If they succeed, MacFarlane said they could break ground on the $1.5-million project in the spring.

'Families would enjoy'

Stephen King is a councillor in Elmsdale. With 16-17,000 people living in the surrounding area, he thinks there's enough interest for a complex like the one proposed.

"There's a very good mix of age groups in the area. We have young families, we have some that are a little more senior, and a lot of families that would enjoy going to something like this."

He said East Hants Entertainment Ltd. hasn't asked the municipality for any money. 

"They have said they want to do this privately with the community, which I think is fantastic." 

He said he will support the group personally by buying two or three shares in the business.

'Feeling of accomplishment'

The group has already chosen a location for the complex in the Elmsdale Business Park. If they come up with the cash in time, MacFarlane said they could break ground by the end of spring.

After six years of work, he said that would be a "great feeling of accomplishment."

There will be a public meeting to discuss the project at the Elmsdale fire hall Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. If the group doesn't raise the money it needs, then Terry MacFarlane said dreams of opening a new bowling alley in the area will likely fall into the gutter.  

"If we can't make it this way, then we don't know what else can be done."