Autumn Mowery, 20, operates the candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine. She has been running the place alone and needs to upgrade the bowling alley machinery so that she can hire a worker.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
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Autumn Mowery, 20, operates the candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine. She has been running the place alone and needs to upgrade the bowling alley machinery so that she can hire a worker.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
ELLSWORTH, Maine — The pins are crashing. Bowling balls are rolling. Funkytown is playing on the stereo.
It is a typical Saturday afternoon in November at “D’Amanda’s,” bowling alley and candlepin arcade in Ellsworth, Maine. The atmosphere at D’Amanda’s may sound like a regular bowling alley, but with one look, it’s obvious that this is no classic big 10-pin bowling alley.
Eleven-year-old Lola Stratton has a candle ball. It is small, about the size of a grapefruit. You look at the pins, which are narrow, like big toothpicks. Even though a candlepin allows three rolls and the small ball makes it look easy, it is difficult to drop all 10 pins.
“It doesn’t matter what I do personally because I always lose. But I’m fine with that,” says Lola.
The candlepin bowling alley is the only amusement in Ellsworth, Maine.
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The candlepin bowling alley is the only amusement in Ellsworth, Maine.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
Autumn Mowery can’t take any walk-ins, because she is the only employee of the candlepin bowling alley. A group of local girls made reservations to celebrate his birthday party.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
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Autumn Mowery can’t take any walk-ins, because she is the only employee of the candlepin bowling alley. A group of local girls made reservations to celebrate his birthday party.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
Lola gets her first roll, and it’s a gutter ball. Her second roll goes more on target and she knocks down three pins. The knocked down pins are called “deadwood” and remain in the lane for the last throw.
Roller No. 3 slides through the center of the lane and drops three more pins.
“Oh!” Lola says. She is happy. It is one of her best frames so far.
Candlepin bowling is not well known in most of the United States.
According to the International Candlepin Bowling Association, it started in Worcester, Mass., in 1880. From there it spread to New England and the Canadian Maritimes. Today, this region continues to be a country of candles.
Lola is bowling with a group of friends. Earlier in the game, the balls stopped coming back into their lane. So they catch the boss, Autumn Mowery.
Mowery is 20 years old and knows how to fix most lane problems on the spot. She started working here in 2019 and has grown to love the sport and building relationships with clients. In 2020, her mother bought the business and Mowery began running the day-to-day operations.
Bowling balls and pins in candle pin bowling alley.
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Mowery and a friend who is volunteering remove a cover from the ball and find a jam in the ball return. While clearing the jam, Mowery explains that since the equipment is old, each lane has its quirks.
“I love these lanes. They’re definitely a pain in the butt. But they’re still going for me – some of them,” she says.
The pinsetters are prototypes from 1949. So Mowery can’t order new parts. Meanwhile, she uses Lane 5 as a scrap yard. Over the years, the previous owners made many fixes.
“It’s all duct tape and bubblegum back there,” she says.
When the customers arrive, Mowery apologizes before the breakdowns.
Soon enough, Lane 1 is stopped. Mowery zips out back.
Behind the lanes there is a symphony of twisting and turning among the jungle of motors, chains and conveyors. Mowery inspects the problem: the sweeper bar isn’t picking up the pins.
“It’s too cold,” she says. “They are not moving as they should be.”
Mowery resets a few switches and gets the lane back on track. She expects to have this problem all day as the weather has turned cold and she is still waiting for her heating oil to arrive.
Autumn Mowery is responsible for all maintenance on the lanes.
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Autumn Mowery is responsible for all maintenance on the lanes.
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Autumn Mowery behind the lanes at candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine.
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Autumn Mowery behind the lanes at candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine.
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This is just one of the many stressors Mowery deals with every day. She lives up the alley and often does repairs until 1 or 2 am. She is the only employee. The roof leaks. Heating and cooling the huge building is expensive. She even went down this semester of college to catch up on sleep.
Mowery is determined – against all odds – to keep the pin alley going. She says the tradition is disappearing because many owners can’t keep up with the maintenance, and it’s too expensive to get new candle parts. Many alleys are closing or converting to classic 10-pin.
The regulars appreciate the effort to save the tradition.
“I love to see that she’s doing her best to keep the parts original. And I take my hats off to her because I know it’s definitely not an easy job to pull off,” says Sam Sawyer, a woman in her mid-20s who has grown to coming here and whose family has been coming to this alley for generations.
“I have such distinct and beautiful memories of like, me and my cousins going out, like having Pizza Hut and then coming here. It was the most happening place,” she says.
Today, Sawyer is here for her niece’s birthday. A family traveled from hours away to meet at D’Amanda’s.
“It means a lot to so many people around here, it’s really like another home for us. So I think it’s a matter of keeping it alive for generations to come,” she says.
Mowery knows how much a candlepin means to her community and wants more cities across the nation to have one as well. She hopes to expand into Maine and then spread the sport outside of New England.
She started a TikTok account, @EllsworthCandlepinAlley, to get the word out. For now, she’s bringing people together in Ellsworth, Maine, one candle at a time.
Autumn Mowery prepares the lane for a group of locals at the candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
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Autumn Mowery prepares the lane for a group of locals at the candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine.
Sofia Aldinio for NPR
