After five years in retirement, Jim and Beryl Dschaak have come back to help maintain the Thunder Rolls Bowling Center with the help of their granddaughter, Amber Forquer. Forquer who grew up in the bowling alley, just 11 years old when the Dschaaks built the facility, is the manager.

The Dschaaks built the facility in 2005 after they were unable to acquire a bowling alley that once existed in Craig.

“We built this thing many years ago for Craig because Craig had an old rundown bowling center. We tried buying that one way back when and she just wanted too much for the shape that it was in,” Jim Dschaak said. “So, Beryl asked when are we going to retire and I said no time soon, and so she said well, I want to build a bowling center. I said, well I want to building a bowling center and six months later it was up and running.”

Despite the departure of the people behind The Sizzling Pickle, they still have a kitchen that serves fresh, homemade food and vegan options. They serve food that the Dschaaks raise themselves.

“Our beef is pretty much all homegrown by me, it’s 90, 95% lean, so people know what they get,” Jim said. “They are paying for what they get, and the wings, they are fresh wings, they don’t see a deep fat fryer. Ours is catering more to a good health, she’s vegan, so we also serve vegan food. I raise highlanders, and we serve a lot of highlanders and they are 100% natural.”

Over the last 15 years, despite changing hands, the biggest thing that has changed about the bowling alley is the kitchen.

“I think overall, the bowling, nothing has really changed. We added bouncy houses and of course, they couldn’t be used last summer, we don’t know if they’ll be used this summer,” Beryl said.

Forquer spoke specifically about how the kitchen has changed since the Dschaaks took the bowling alley back over.

“That’s kind of what happened, they wanted to run a restaurant out of a snack bar kitchen and that was just not feasible. So that’s the only reason our menu had to decrease a little bit in just the extravagancy of the food. It just was not a feasible thing,” Forquer said. “It may not be this crazy dressed up burger or a big tray of a bunch of stuff, a good burger, a good fry. I think it’s pleasantly simple.”

The Dschaaks spoke about bowling and how everybody can bowl, and how it brings people together.

“We love it, we want everybody to experience it.. the thing of it is that you have to realize that you can be 2 and bowl or a 102 and you can bowl. You can be deaf, you can be blind, you can be paraplegic and still bowl,” Beryl said. “It’s a great family activity, you can get your physical exercise and you’re having a good time. It’s entertainment for all ages and that’s what it is.”

moneill@craigdailypress.com