FEATURE STORY

Multi-million recreational facility to open in Boyle
Bolivar County bowling alley promises family fun
By Doreen Muzzi
DBJ Editor

Construction has begun on a multi-million dollar recreational facility that is scheduled to open this summer in Boyle, Miss. Harmony Lanes will be a family-friendly, smoke-free, 24-lane bowling center that will also feature an arcade, snack bar, restaurant and sports bar, conference rooms for special events and meetings, a trophy shop and a pro shop.
The Bolivar County business – owned principally by Clement Lee, Wayne Hayes, and Eddie Gong, along with other shareholders – will consist of a 39,000-square-foot building on an 8.5-acre lot.
The owners say they decided to open the facility so people of all ages in the area would have a place to go for entertainment. “Now that bowling is a lettering sport in high school, the Delta’s current bowling centers cannot cater to the expanding interest in bowling,” says Jee. “It’s time to bring in a new recreational facility.”
The new state-of-the-art bowling center, he says, will offer family interaction and community fun in a region where the options for entertainment and recreation are limited. “This new bowling center will provide a year-round sport that not only will attract current league participants from the local and surrounding areas, but it also will introduce an entirely new wave of participants of all ages to the sport,” he says.
Hays says bowlers from a 50-mile radius currently travel to Cleveland and other locations in the Delta for recreation and league bowling in older facilities. Harmony Lanes, he adds, will be one of the newest facilities of its type to be built in north Mississippi in the past 50 years.
“There are five existing bowling centers within a 50-mile radius of Harmony Lanes,” he says. “All are at least 45 years old. They range from 12 to 20 lanes and only one has been upgraded in any kind of way in the last 10 years. A bowling center must have at least 20 lanes to be eligible for state-wide tournaments.”
The three principal owners of Harmony Lanes are veteran bowlers who collectively have more than 90 years of bowling and tournament experience among them. One has more than 10 years of bowling management experience and is also a state director of the Mississippi State Bowling Association.
All three have extensive retail experience, having owned their own businesses for decades. Together, the three men will be active as on-site managers of the facility, overseeing all aspects of this endeavor.
“The center will offer certified bowling instructors to work with youth and adults who are interested in learning to bowl as a hobby or sport,” says Gong.
Harmony Lanes will be located just off of Highway 61, within the city limits of Boyle. The center’s 24 lanes will be set in a 12-lane back-to-back configuration. The conference room can be rented for meetings, reunions, receptions and other activities. The location offers easy access off Highway 61 with a spacious parking lot, says Gong.
Follow the progress of this Bolivar County business at www.harmonybowling.com.  DBJ



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