The small six-lane bowling alley in Westlock was recently rewarded for its dedication and innovation to the bowling industry.
Westlock Bowl owners Carolyn and Garth Kohlsmith accepted the “President’s Award” at the National Bowl Canada Conference held in St. John’s, N.L. on June 6.
“We were pretty flabbergasted to get this award our little small six lane bowling alley out of all of the things going on in all of the bowling centres across Canada,” said Carolyn.
“But I guess it’s because of all of the money we raised here for the Knockdown Cancer event.”
The Westlock Bowl raised about $25,000 during a month-long national campaign to “Knockdown Cancer” and raise money for the Canadian Cancer Foundation.
“That is an awesome figure our industry can be proud of,” said Paul Oliveira, executive director of Bowl Canada. “What’s astonishing is that roughly 20 per cent of those funds (came) from one bowling centre.”
And the award came as a surprise to the couple.
“We were kind of expecting a pat on the back, but we weren’t expecting to win this president’s award,” Carolyn explained. “It was very nice. They gave us this great big huge plaque . . . and we’ve got it hanging up at the bowling alley.”
But the Kohlsmiths said having a successful fundraiser was simply because of their dedicated patrons that continually supported their cause.
“You know, they called our names but I accepted it on behalf of all of our bowlers and everyone in the community who was pledging money and working hard to get that total up,” said Carolyn. “Everybody was working hard to get the total up — we did the planning, but they did the carrying it out.”
