Church plans to return bowling to Safford by year's end

The bowling alley has served as a destination for birthday parties, family games and league bowling. Robert Cuencas, the Arizona campus pastor at The Way Safford, said he saw the alley close, and when he heard a prospective buyer intended to turn one of the few family-oriented Gila Valley businesses into a warehouse, he had to act.

"There aren’t many things for kids to do here,” he said. “We cannot lose another thing for the kids here. I’d be very sad if it turned into a warehouse, and that’s what really urged us.”

A month later, the building has already received a fresh coat of paint. The church is preparing to replace the floors, remodel the restaurant and install an arcade room.

Once reopened, league competition at the alley will resume, including a children's league. Volunteers from the church are helping with the restoration. In fact is was a group of volunteers who painted the exterior of the building on Monday and Tuesday.

Pastor Armando Fimbres is moving from The Way World Outreach headquarters in San Bernardino, Calif., to become the alley and restaurant operations manager. He is looking a home in the Gila Valley.

“Part of what Safford's theme is that it’s a good place to live, work and visit. We want to make sure that we keep that here,” Fimbres said. “We want to have a family-friendly area here and let people come in. We’re not going to have just bowling but connection and have a place for people to come and hang out.”

The step from being pastors to bowling alley operators seemed like a leap at first, but when coming to Safford, Cuencas said the movie theater the church now runs was also out of the norm. The Way will be owning and operating the alley the same way it operates the movie theater.

“Our grand opening of the church was last year in April," Cuencas said. "We inherited the church there, and the theater was with it. That came with the building; we decided to keep it. Our whole thing is, find needs and meet them. Here at the bowling alley, it’s not just bowling and food.”

Cuencas said the bowling alley isn't so much about bowling as it is community support. He said the church has always encouraged fellowship among families and among its members. Having a bowling alley available offers them another place to gather, spend time together, share a meal and build relationships. 

“Bowling, yes, it’s fun, time to relax, and then you meet families, and you hear stories, and now we’re here to help those people with what they’re going through,” he said. “We have a saying in our church, 'We meet once, and you’re family.' What does that mean? You go through something; we go through it together.”

The target date for the reopening the bowling alley, which will be rechristened Good Times, is sometime later this year, Cuencas said. It's unclear whether all of the lanes will be working by that point. Of the 16 lanes total, four are not operational, and each is projected to cost about $100,000 to restore. However, he said Safford's bowling alley is the only one between Graham County, Phoenix and Tucson that is state-certified for league play. The bowling alley in Morenci, which has six lanes, is not.

Cuencas other decisions for the facility are still in the discussion phase. They include whether to gear the restaurant space more to a sit-down space for family dining or to gear it more to a sports theme. In either case, he confirmed, it won't be a place that sells beer.