How Well Do You Know River Lanes?

by Jake Schweich

I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Corrine from River Lanes and got her to tell me a little about the story of this family owned business.

While the story she gave me was the short and sweet version I would like to share it with you.

The story starts when Corrine's father, who had been involved with bowling since his teenage years, moved his family away from the cold Wisconsin winters to the beautiful Sunshine State.

In 1978 Corrine's family purchased Shore Lanes in Merritt Island and Corrine got her first taste of what it is like to run a bowling center.

As an aside, I will warn you not to make a mistake I made early on. I errantly called River Lanes a "bowling alley" and was quickly informed that I should not use that term. While everyone at River Lanes has been more than gracious with me as I unlearn the phrase "bowling alley" and re-learn the phrase "bowling center" I completely agree with the reasoning behind the distinction they make.

I will say that Corrine and her family certainly have a passion for bowling, and that could not have been any more evident than when they opened a second bowling center in late 1986... River Lanes.

Shore Lanes was sold in 1991 (which was coincidentally not long after Corrine had her first child and took a break from the bowling center... sure there was no connection?) and focused in on River Lanes.

Over the next several years, River Lanes grew slowly until they found that they had up and outgrown their space. So, in 2006 (just in time for the 20th anniversary) River Lanes finished construction on 8 additional lanes and a brand new restaurant, River City Bar & Grill.

Corrine told me that when they first started the process she thought the expansion would include something more resembling a snack bar than the full scale restaurant that the designer gave them.

I will say that I think the River City Bar & Grill is the "hidden gem" of River Lanes Family Entertainment Center.

When I stopped in with my family to try out the food I expected a typical "concession stand" quality food but was pleasantly surprised to find the food on or better than par with other area restaurants. (And if you have kids you have to check out the mac'n'cheese nuggets!)

I will say that the River City Bar & Grill is a welcome addition to the valuable offerings that River Lanes Family Entertainment Center has for the local Titusville community.

This guest  post offered by Jake Schweich, daddy to two wonderfully energetic boys and natural parenting blogger at DaddyByNature.com. 

Bowling, Is It Really A Family Thing?

Bowling, Is It Really A Family Thing?

Seniors groups.

Empty Nesters.

Eight year-olds.

2 year olds?

Everyone has a preconceived notion about bowling. Maybe it’s the shirts and competitive cheering and jeering of a League team. Maybe it’s late night, black lit crazies. Or two lanes worth of elementary schoolers celebrating a birthday and racing back and forth from lane to arcade causing untold delays of game as someone has to go retrieve them.

But families with little kids? It’s that a recipe for trouble? Or at least an opportunity to get some nice rear-end shots of mom & dad as they help the little one roll the ball from between their legs and pray that it doesn’t stop rolling about halfway down lane (commonly known as “granny bowling”, but trust me, none of the seniors I saw last visit bowled like that!).

Actually, it was a lot of fun. My oldest is a 3 and a half year-old boy, my youngest was a mere 22 months. Plus, there’s this great invention called a “ramp”; strike up the Hallelujah Chorus, no more bowling balls taking eons to roll down the lane!

The boys had a blast until about the 7th frame, when my oldest just got tired of waiting his turn and decided he was done. So next time I think we’ll bring a few cars or a coloring book or something to help them make it through a full game. Or maybe we’ll be that group down on the end with a whole bunch of 2-3 year olds yelling “Kung-Fu Panda bowl” and punching the ball down the ramp. Or head-butting it…since some kids apparently have to learn the hard way that that’s not the best idea.

But I can tell you that we will be taking them again. It was fun, it was indoors (and in Florida, that’s big!) and it’s teaching the kids good sportsmanship – like cheering equally for strikes and gutterballs – and about a sport that most kids their age are told is not something for them. Maybe we’ll have a 2nd birthday party at a bowling center in a couple months for that reason alone.

Bowling…who knew it really is a WHOLE family thing?


~ Heather Schweich, Melbourne, FL