news-record.com

Whether you're 8 or 88, there's something exciting about bowling. From the minute you walk into a bowling center and hear the balls striking the pins, you can't help but want to tie on a pair of shoes and try your hand at it.

In recent years, as families have sought fun, low-cost activities close to home, bowling has once again been gaining in popularity, from a low point in the mid-1980s through the mid-'90s.

A "super study of sports participation" found that bowling outranks golf, fishing, tennis, billiards, bicycling, skating, swimming, jogging and hunting by wide margins. Its popularity increased 10 percent between 2006 and 2007, a total of 16 percent since 2000. More than 60 million people in the United States bowl at least once a year.

The game has been popular since colonial times and became a business in the early 1900s. The heyday of bowling occurred between 1957 and 1963, when bowling lanes in the United States more than doubled.

A large number of bowling centers are family-owned, including Reidsville Lanes on Freeway Drive. Bette Furr, the owner of Reidsville Lanes, married into the bowling industry. Her husband, Earl, had once been the assistant manager of the center, which was built in 1962 by Sports and Recreation Company, along with four others in the state. Earl Furr purchased Reidsville Lanes in 1966.

Bette moved to Reidsville in 1968 from Gibsonville. They married in 1970, and she has worked at the bowling center ever since. Her average was 192 in her younger days.

Earl, who Bette says had the "gift of gab," passed away 10 years ago, so her sons and a grandson help her run the business now.

According to bowling industry consultants Hansell & Associates, "Bowling is the only major recreational activity that can market itself as a competitive sport, a social and family activity and as a location-based entertainment."

Furr chooses to make Reidsville Lanes a more family-friendly environment by not serving alcohol. She also holds children's birthday parties on weekends. Children as young as 3 and 4 can bowl using lightweight balls. Furr puts bumper guards along the lanes so children don't get frustrated by throwing gutter balls.

Reidsville Lanes is open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 1 to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Next time you're looking for something fun for your family to do that doesn't cost a lot, give Reidsville Lanes a try.

For 46 years, it has been entertainment for the whole family.

Joni Carter lives in the Bethany community. Contact her at writetojonicarter@gmail.com.