When Yvonne Bennett, the executive director of the Bowling Centers Association of Wisconsin, told me she was going to be organizing a tour of small vintage bowling centers in the state, I immediately thought of the story I could write.

Wisconsin has 84 bowling alleys with between two and six lanes, the most in the country — and yes alley is the correct word for these little gems.

Unfortunately, the day-long Wisconsin Vintage Alleys Tour tour ended up being on Sunday, Oct. 29, and I could not make it with that day falling during the U.S. Open and before the World Series of Bowling — simply too much writing to do, and as it turns out I was in front of my computer for 13 hours that day.

But the tour also made me think of Barry Adams, a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal — one of the two papers of Capital Newspapers, where I am an online editor — who writes a column called “On Wisconsin” in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal.

Barry was enthusiastic about the idea and ended up going on the tour with a State Journal photographer.

The story with numerous photos ran on Sunday, Nov. 5, on the front page. A longer version ran online with the photos and also several videos from the tour.

It’s a great read for any bowler or fan of bowling. Check it out here.