Players must bowl at least three games per week until the end of the season. If they miss a game, they can make it up the following week. In September, bowlers who meet the 36-game requirement win ferry-ride passes from Catawba Island to the real Put-in-Bay. Once there, theyll barhop to a pizza-and-beer banquet at Frostys and then spend the night at the nearby Commodore Resort & Hotel. Folks return to the mainland the next morning. In a normal bowling league, youd be splitting up prize money at the end of the season, says Rob Morrow, owner of the Put-in-Bay bar. The prize money for this league is a trip to the island.
Morrow named his bar and 10-lane bowling alley after his hometown (he graduated from Put-in-Bay High School in 1987). The clubs interior even boasts cardboard cutouts of island landmarks -- like the Beer Barrel Saloon, the Round House Bar, and Put-in-Bay Marina. Morrow trumpets the citys reputation as a summertime party destination every chance he gets. The islands have come a long way in the last 10 years, he says. I tell my customers that my bar may be fun, but the real thing is even better.
June 12-Sept. 8