Keeping the ball rolling

Yes, the balls still roll and the pins still fall in the 8-lane bowling alley at Edgar that culminated a dream of Willy and Penny Hakanson's in 1962. When the Hakanson's dreamed of opening a bowling alley in their hometown, they began taking notes in every town they went to that had a bowling alley. One town in Kansas had just what they liked, so they brought the plan back home. In 1962, the Hakanson's opened the Regal Lanes in Edgar.

Willy operated the bowling alley until the mid 1980s, when his son Skip took over management. This year, 46 years after the alley opened, when Willy and Skip decided it was time to sell, Denis and Kathy Moore eagerly stepped up to buy, and so the Hakanson's dream rolls on.

The Moore's purchased the Regal Lanes from Willy and Skip on April Fools' Day this year. They hope to revive an interest in bowling and continue to provide the area with a fun, family place to go. Their daughter Heather manages the bowling alley with the help of her 8-year-old daughter, Kambria, who is rumored to be a pretty good bowler, herself.

Men's and women's leagues will continue in the fall and the Moore's hope to offer a mixed-doubles league. Kathy says they are just playing with ideas at this point, but may offer a kids' league and also intend to add something for teens to do after football and basketball games.

In addition to bowling the Regal Lanes offers a limited menu that includes pizza, burgers & hot dogs. The Moore's may expand that menu soon as they see what people want. A packaged-liquor store was added to the bowling alley in the 1980s, and a digital dartboard is available.  The bowling alley currently opens at 3:00 PM, but they may eventually open earlier on weekends.

The Moore's welcome birthday parties and reunions, and plan on showing memorabilia and photos from Edgar's history in the business. Kathy expects the bowling alley to continue to be a gathering place for people. A regular crowd meets daily at 4:00PM, and a bike rally also stopped recently. When people just don't want to cook, Kathy says, "We'll be there for them. We're hoping we can provide a great service for the town. It's a great little community." Willy Hakanson is glad that someone locally bought the business. He says it has been "kind of his baby" and is delighted to see the excitement and plans that the Moore's have for it. The Moore's may have an emotional and nostalgic reason for buying the Regal Lanes, too. Not only does Kathy love bowling, she says she was pretty good at it, and she may start again. The Moore's have been married for 33 years, and their first date was in the Regal Lanes of Edgar, and so you might say it was fate.