Story originally published in The Ellsworth American
ELLSWORTH — Early every morning, Autumn Mowery, 20, descends the stairs leading from her second-floor apartment directly into the office of D’Amanda’s, Ellsworth’s aging candlepin bowling alley, to open up shop.
Multicolored, grapefruit-sized bowling balls sit ready for use at the front of 12 candlepin bowling lanes. Arcade lights glitter from the back room. Funky art is plastered to the walls, complementing the array of half-functional vintage box TVs that line the wall above the lanes being slowly replaced with flat screens.
As the only employee of the retro entertainment center, Mowery is responsible for the upkeep of the decades-old gathering place. On any given day, there’s no way to know how many lanes will actually be up and running. Technical malfunctions are common.
The pinsetters behind the lanes are not only ancient, but rare — prototype automatic candlepin pinsetters from 1949, only meant to be tested for a month. If something goes wrong, the only solution is to learn how to fix it on the spot, often using YouTube tutorials or trial and error.
Most nights, Mowery says, she’s tinkering with the machines until 2 a.m.
Still, there’s nowhere else Mowery would rather be.
“I can never truly get away from the place,” she said. “And as much as everyone says that it’s not good for me, honestly, this is my happy place. And so it makes me happy to see the potential, to see the progress that’s already made in the two years.”
Mowery took over ownership of D’Amanda’s when she turned 18 years old. Her mother, Amanda Thurlow, who helped save the property from being demolished by the previous owner, assists with the behind-the-scenes paperwork, while Mowery’s fiancé, Ryan Lounder, 21, owns and operates the bar and restaurant, in addition to owning and managing the plaza itself.
Two years after taking over, Mowery is the sole operator of the candlepin alley, responsible for the cleaning, scheduling, customer service and maintenance.
Figuring out the machinery, however, was a bigger task than it might seem.
“Learning them … more like fixing them and making them my own!” Mowery said, laughing. Instead of bolts, Mowery found bubblegum holding things down, wire coat hangers holding parts together, and various other household objects used to jerry rig the operations.
“I couldn’t even compare them to other models because of how rigged they were,” she continued.
It’s not just the machines that have given Mowery a hard time. Earlier this year, the building suffered massive flooding following icy weather in the area, with much of the arcade room submerged in water. A power surge on New Year’s Eve blew out the electrical wiring. Holes in the ceiling caused leaks.
Even so, it’s behind the lanes of D’Amanda’s that Mowery found her voice.
Before she and her mother took on the adventure of owning D’Amanda’s, Mowery worked behind the lanes as a pinsetter for lane nine, which didn’t work on its own. It was there that her “nerdiness” about candlepin was born, but also where her journey battling social anxiety began to improve.
“I couldn’t answer phone calls, it was so nerve-wracking,” Mowery explained. “Upon running [D’Amanda’s], I didn’t really think about [taking] phone calls [and running] the front desk. But this place, throwing myself into it, is kind of like my safe place. So I get up front and I use a megaphone, and I come up and I’m like, ‘All right, bowlers, are we ready to bowl?’ I would’ve never done that before.”
Even with the seemingly endless repairs having to be made, Mowery has big plans for D’Amanda’s future.
On top of beginning to offer weekly tours of the antique pinsetters, Mowery plans to expand the alley to include a bigger arcade, as well as possibly adding a roller rink. In the meantime, she has set her mind to a massive task: getting all 12 lanes to function fully on their own.
Currently, she uses lane five as her “sacrifice lane.” Because of everything that needs to be fixed, she decided to use the lane to salvage spare parts for the 11 other lanes as repairs come along, as parts for the prototype machines can’t be bought easily. Soon, though, the plan is to regain lane five as a functional lane for guests.
Even through the struggles — the repairs, mental hardship, loss of friendships, and long nights — Mowery plans to stay in the candlepin business forever. One day, she hopes to see a candlepin alley functioning in every state of America.
“It’s made me grow into the person that I am,” she said. “It’s made me stronger. I used to be very dependent, and now I’m very independent. Honestly, as much of a responsibility it is, it’s been amazing.”
