Iowa (KCRG) -A new grant program to help bars and restaurants struggling from the pandemic is opening up on Monday. It doesn’t include bowling alleys, and some bowling center owners are asking for federal CARES Act funding to be allocated towards their industry.
Bryce Smith owns the Adel Family Fun Center, west of Des Moines. He says they’ve lost nearly half of their revenue since the pandemic started in March.
He’s also President of Iowa Bowling Proprietor’s Association...which represents around 130 bowling centers across the state. “Now is the time for our governor and our legislature to step up and provide the relief necessary to ensure that businesses survive, people survive. This is kind of the low point, I think, in a lot of small businesses. We’ve depleted our resources. Those grants that we got last year they got the loan so we got last year and they’re going to be gone here soon too. And many small businesses are not back to where we were pre-pandemic as far as revenue,” says Smith.
Smith is calling for the governor to use federal CARES Act funds to support the bowling industry, saying ”Many of them talk about that is for a rainy day, and for hard days ahead. And something that we have been vocal about is as proprietors is that the rainy days started back in March, and now the water is well above our chins.”
The money could be helpful for places like the Cedar Rapids Bowling Center.
It’s getting busier with bowlers lately, but some of its lanes were still quiet Saturday morning. General manager Dave Wolfe has been at the center for 23 years. ”I’ve had roller coaster years old ones, but this is definitely been bad one and hopefully we can recall but we’ve lost,” says Wolfe.
And, he says people aren’t holding many big events like corporate outings or birthday parties there either.
“Our league plays probably down about 60%, which is huge dollar amount. Hopefully once a vaccine gets out to people start coming back, but I truthfully think it’s going to be about a 3-to-5-year span to get some of that, to get back to where we were,” says Wolfe.
But, he says over the last few weeks he’s seen an increase in bowlers- especially on the weekends. “We’ll be busy tonight. We’ve been busy the last five weekend so hopefully it’s on the upside,” says Wolfe.
KCRG reached out to the governor’s office, and received this statement: “The Iowa Restaurant and Bar Relief Program is expected to assist thousands of Iowa establishments in one of our most severely impacted industries. The goal of the program is to assist establishments whose primary purpose is serving food or drink and who were significantly and directly impacted by closures and other mitigation efforts.
While we recognize that there are additional business types and structures that have also been significantly impacted, funding for this targeted relief program is limited. Due to this, businesses that are not categorized as one of the eligible business types are ineligible for assistance through the Iowa Restaurant and Bar Relief program.”
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Bowling centers call for financial aid as pandemic continues to impact business - KCRG
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