Bowling with the Beesons: Annual Christmas Gathering at Frankfort Bowl

December 27, 2009

An annual tradition of the Beesons is for their family to get together during Christmas… and to bowl. I attended the 2007 gathering, and this year it was held at a place called Frankfort Bowl.

Interestingly, the bowling alley was located up on the second floor of a building in downtown Frankfort.

Cameron, surveying the five lanes.

Everyone setting up the potluck lunch. Lots of food and sweets to be had, all around.

A view of the main desk area (the lanes are diretly behind me).

Prior to us starting, I wandered around the rest of the space. This is near the entrance, and there was a whole other room with pool tables. Though we had the entire place rented out we (unfortunately) never really wandered over to shoot pool.

A view of the bar.

This is one of the owners, Dan Smith. When he saw me taking photos, he asked for copies. And as a kind of payment, he offered to comp me a pitcher of beer. Though I tried to protest, he’d hear nothing about it and insisted.

Turns out, Dan took over the place about four months ago (the place had, I think, been closed down for a while prior to that). There was a lot of work done to the main bar area, and as I listented to Dan talk about all the new renovations he had made… you could tell he was both excited and proud.

Interestingly, I was talking with Liz’s cousin Mike earlier. He had mentioned how he keeps up on the blog, and when the topic got to bowling… I mentioned that awesome day where Liz and I got a sneak peek behind the scenes at Diversey Bowl.

As I was talking with Dan about the place, I asked if I could take a look at the pinsetting machines. He was quick to agree, and before I knew it I was following him down the narrow walkway towards the back area. I grabbed Mike, Cameron and Liz so we could all take a peek.

Dan, showing off the machines that power the pins.

Closeup view of some of the belt-run machinery.

Bob and Darlene, welcoming everyone and starting off the first game, officially.

A quick view of the Beeson family.

Liz, waiting her turn.

For the video below, Dan’s probably the only one who will appreciate the soundtrack. He gave me a copy of Happy Clucking Holidays, which is basically a whole Christmas album where each song is “sung” in a chicken’s voice. If this isn’t part of your holiday playlist, then you my friend are missing out.

The songs are ridiculous and crack me up. And since they’re only really tolerable in 30 second increments, it was a perfect choice for a timelapse video.

Cameron, using the Force to try to turn the ball.