Round one: Crossville sees first bowling event this weekend

Bowlers at Plateau Lanes in Crossville.
Bowlers at Plateau Lanes in Crossville.

CROSSVILLE – This weekend, 280 female bowlers will descend upon the Cumberland Plateau – all competitors in the 2016 Women’s Senior Singles Tournament.

It’s the first of three state of Tennessee bowling tournaments that will be hosted by Crossville, Cumberland County and Plateau Bowling Lanes, which successfully secured three separate events earlier this year.

The bowling alley – located on Highway 70E – coordinated with the Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce to submit bid packages for three tournaments: this one, the Women’s Queen’s Tournament and the 2017 Tennessee Women’s Championship that will be held over four weekends in the spring. Officials received the good news of a “clean sweep” this past April.

Tennessee State Women’s Bowling Association President Jinnie Henry said the bid package was “one of the best ever received.” Plateau Lanes made a significant investment – around a quarter of a million dollars, co-owners Debbie Blaylock and Kim Robbins told the UCBJ – to make necessary improvements. The chamber pledged a total of $2,000 toward the prize funds.

The event is expected to bring roughly 2,000 visitors to Crossville and Cumberland County.

“The Chamber’s board wanted to make a strong statement that we were ready and willing to host the tournaments,” Chamber President Brad Allamong said. “It’s just good math; a buck a person, and the community wins. Those coming from any distance will (log) up to two overnights and (eat) up to five meals during their stays.”

Members of the local bowling association will be on-hand to greet the competitors as they check-in for one of three scheduled “shifts.” The tournament openings at 7:45 a.m. Saturday. The team event is scheduled for one day and a doubles/singles event will follow.

Later this year, Plateau will host the 2016 Queen’s Tournament Oct. 8. The 2017 Tennessee State Women’s Championship Tournament is set for March 2017. For more information, visit http://plateaubowlinglanes.com/Home.aspx.

 

 

 

 

Liz Engel is the editor of the Upper Cumberland Business Journal. She can be reached at liz@ucbjournal.com

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.