Mike Scaccia is a bowling alley guy, part of a family in the bowling business for generations who own Boulevard Bowl in Schenectady and Town and Country Lanes in Guilderland. Now, the Scaccia family can add Burnt Hills Lanes to their bowling bonanza, having taken over as owners in May and getting ready to officially open to the public sometime between Dec. 6 or 8.
`I come by here quite a bit, have family that lives up the road and I think it’s a thriving community that needs a place for kids and families to go,` said Scaccia.
For the past several months, Scaccia has been hard at work cleaning the floors, revamping the bathrooms, polishing the equipment, installing flourescent lighting and doing general maintenance. Those who have gotten a first look at the new bowling center can’t believe their eyes, Scaccia said.
`A lot of the reaction from people who have been coming here a lot of years is they come in, stop and look around, and then they say just say, ‘Wow,’` said Scaccia. `It was very dark and dim in here so brightening up the lights was huge people will notice; anyone who’s been in here the last 15 or 20 years will notice immediately.`
Burnt Hills Lanes is a beautiful place on a beautiful property, said Scaccia; it was just in need of some tender loving care.
`The previous owners ran the business for 20 years, but didn’t really put much money back in. If you plan on being there for awhile, you need to put money in every year and make a capital investment in your establishment,` said Scaccia. `It’s unbelievable what a little work did. It didn’t need a huge amount of change just needed to put a little love in.`
There are 24 lanes, which need at least weekly, almost daily, maintence. Scaccia is waiting for 42-inch scoring monitors to come in, which will finish the place off. For now, he’s technically open to anyone that can keep track of scoring themselves. Not many people can, though, and Scaccia has been teaching the high school gym classes the trick all month.
Burnt Hills Lanes will be more than your traditional bowling alley, with a cafE that will serve breakfast, pizza and other simple snacks, as well as soda, beer and wine.
`Eventually, we could do banquets, group parties, team building parties, Christmas parties; hopefully it will be a destination spot for the community in six months to a year,` said Scaccia.
Scaccia’s plans for the bowling center are ingrained in his approach to the American pasttime.
`I grew up in the business and it’s a sport as well as entertainment. It’s a hands on business. People like to see you and you have to take care of your customers,` said Scaccia.
Having the gym classes from the high school come over three or four times a day is an arrangement that’s been in place for years, and was a conscious decision on Scaccia’s part to continue that tradition and expose kids to his passion.
`Bowling is one of the sports they consider a lifelong sport; you can do it when your’e four or 94,` said Scaccia. `It gives the kids something to do. They can have a little exercise, it’s nice camaraderie.`
Once Burnt Hills Lanes is smoothly running and gets some of the kinks out, Scaccia has big plansto make his mark in the neighborhood.
`I plan to do a big community day with free bowling, pizza, hotdogs, soda, probably around the middle of Decemeber. I want to start some short season leagues in January and youth leagues on the weekends, maybe adult-child leagues and [something] where you bowl for four or six weeks and get a ball at the end,` said Scaccia. `I think people really need a place where they can go if they want a glass of wine and bring the kids, have some good family entertainment and don’t spend a fortune.`
Burnt Hills Lanes is at 825 Saratoga Road in Burnt Hills. For hours or more information, call 399-0999.
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