Kenny Lanes, the newly reopened bowling alley in Baudette, MN.

 

Taking the initiative to become an entrepreneur can be a stressful endeavor. Matt and Anna Stein and Matt’s parents, Kenny and Joann Ignaszewski, have found the experience of running a small business fulfilling, thanks to family involvement and the support of the community.

“Our whole family is actively involved in running the business; We all chip in running the kitchen, serving customers, and running the business. Kenny is a mechanical whiz and keeps all of our equipment up and running.”

The inspiration for Kenny Lanes came from a family trip to Duluth nearly 20 years ago, when they stopped at a local bowling alley and discussed how owning a bowling alley would be a great family endeavor and positive addition to their community. Soon, they began making plans to open a bowling center in their hometown of Warroad and even spent time working at a bowling alley in the early 2000s to understand the operations better.

Feeling like the upfront costs of building a bowling alley were out of their means, Matt, Joann, and Kenny put their dream on hold and continued to work at their jobs until last July when Anna saw the Baudette bowling alley listed for sale and said: “I think we can make this work!” The family jumped into the planning, and with help from a loan from the IDC, a local economic development nonprofit, they were able to purchase the business and reopen the bowling alley in December 2021.

“While we all had good jobs, we were motivated to do something for ourselves and bring something back to the community.” It’s been a learning experience. We’ve never owned our own business before. We’ve had hiccups, but we’ve worked together, doing our best, and it’s working!”

Kenny Lanes offers three bowling leagues, open bowling, blacklight bowling on the weekends, and a place to hold parties. With all of the family being music lovers, the family has incorporated musical themes into the entire business including the décor and a musically themed menu that includes burgers, pizza, and sandwiches. Kenny Lanes also serves a variety of cold drinks, including Beer, seltzers, and sodas.

The Lake of the Woods community has actively supported the family as they’ve stepped into small business ownership. Shortly after the bowling alley reopened, a significant power surge knocked out the bowling equipment. A couple of the league bowlers that night were electricians and helped get all the equipment up and running again. Unfortunately, the surge destroyed their pizza oven and upon hearing this news,  a neighboring business, donated an older unused pizza oven so they could continue operating. 

 “The best part has been the support from the community. We’ve been welcomed with open arms, and everyone has been great.”

Kenny Lanes is located just off of Hwy. 11 at 109 4th Ave. NW. For more information check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Kenny-Lanes-102600225574684 or call (218) 242-6838.

 

Originally from Northern Minnesota, after service in the Navy, Chad Fulton found his way to Long Beach California, where he met and married Vikki Fulton. Wanting to be closer to Chad’s family, the Fulton’s moved back to Baudette in 2002. It was quite the change of pace for the Fulton’s leaving Long Beach, but one that was welcome. Vikki said,

“I really appreciated how comfortable and safe I feel in Baudette, you get to know people much easier here than in other communities.”

Even in a pandemic, people find ways to follow their dreams and start a business and that’s just what Chad and Vikki Fulton did when they recently opened Fitness of on Main Virtual Studio and Gym opened in Baudette. After buying and renovating a building on Main Street in 2018, the Fulton’s saw a need for a fitness center. “We went to the community to help come up with a plan for the commercial space. We put out a survey asking the question “what could our community use” The answer came back, a gym and fitness studio!

The gym opened on September 28th, 2020 and includes treadmills, ellipticals, and recumbent bikes, a power rack, pulley unit, benches, dumbbells, and kettlebells. The 23’X29’ virtual studio, provides over 350 virtual fitness classes to users anytime, anywhere. The gym also has 3 ADA accessible bathrooms with showers. Memberships are available at a monthly rate or discounted rates are available for semi-annual or annual memberships. Members have 24-hour access to the building with a key fob. Special discounts are available for families, with 10 per month for each additional person. Discounts are also available to members of law enforcement and veterans.

As with everyone else, the Fulton’s plans for 2020 have been altered with rapid spread of Coronavirus, but they and their Manager Ari Lopez, are doing their utmost to ensure people can exercise as safely as possible. This includes measures such as encouraging masks to be worn, when not using actively exercising, limiting capacity to keep the gym from getting crowded, routine disinfection of all equipment including machines and weights before and using bottle fillers instead of a drinking fountain.

Outside of owning a gym, Chad works for the United States Border patrol and Vikki works as a nurse at Lakewood Health Center. When they’re not busy with work and operating their business, the Fulton’s like to spend time with friends, play cards, and enjoy the outdoors. For more information about Fitness on Main, you can check out https://www.facebook.com/fitnessonmainbaudette or call (218) 760-1147.