Moapa Kids Bowl With Frozen Turkeys

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Around Thanksgiving, you occasionally hear of bowling alleys that advertise “bowling for turkeys.” But have you ever heard of “bowling WITH turkeys”?

Well that is exactly what happened last week at the Moapa Parks and Recreation Turkey Bowl.
Turkey Bowling, Moapa style, consists of taking a real frozen 6 pound turkey; still in its original wrapping (with the added reinforcement of duct tape); and hurling it across a wood floor at bowling pins hoping to at least knock down a few.
The young turkey bowler contestants for this event were divided into three age groups according to school grade: K-1, 2-3, and 4-5.

Every participant had the opportunity to throw the turkey twice at the pins. Eight of the pins looked like ordinary bowling pins and were worth one point each. But two of the specially dressed “turkey pins” were worth five points each. Score was carefully kept by Parks and Rec employee Lisa Wolfley. At the end, the winners were announced.

Some scores were tied and those lucky few got to participate in a “bowl off” to see who would go home with the prizes. One young participant said that the “bowl off” was his favorite part, even though he did not win, because he got to bowl twice.

Although the contest was a competition, the atmosphere was fun and friendly. The winner in each age division went home with a 12 pound turkey (that had not been bowled with). Second prize was a pumpkin pie, and the third place won a delicious bag of M&M cookies. All prizes were provided by Parks and Rec.

The winners in the K-1 division were 1-James Wade, 2-Koby Herring, and 3-Jeremiah Dominguez. In the 2-3 division, the winners were 1-Eliel Mora, 2-Khloe May, and 3-Garen Staley. In the 4-5 divison, the winners were 1-Iain McMurray, 2-Tylar Anderson, and 3-Jaden Smith.

The annual Moapa Turkey Bowl is the brain child of Moapa Parks and Rec Director Gail Lindsay.
“We wanted to do something fun for Thanksgiving, so when I saw a turkey toss on You Tube, we decided to try that,” Lindsey said. “Unfortunately, many of the little kids couldn’t lift the turkeys to toss them and some of the older kids tossed them too well or straight up and we found ourselves frequently running for our lives. I changed it by adding some bowling pins a couple years ago to give the kids a target and make it more kid-friendly and we have been turkey bowling ever since. It’s one of our most popular events every year and it’s just fun for everyone.”
The kids all agreed. Division 4-5 pie winner Tylar Anderson said, “I think it was very fun. I liked the bowl-off the very best.”

Alison Farino bowled in the 2-3 division and said, “We came today because we love to come to all the Parks and Rec activities because they are always so much fun. Last year I won a pie so this year I am hoping to win the turkey.”

Her mother, Deborah Farino was one of the many spectators there cheering the kids on. She agreed with Alison, “We do everything together and I wouldn’t have missed this event for the world. We try to participate in all the Parks and Rec activities that are offered for us. That’s one of the huge advantages of living here. We get out of Vegas into an environment like this where our kids can be kids.”
Lindsay was very pleased with the strong turnout. “This was our best year so far,” she said. “We had amazing support from the community and the parents. We had 53 kids on the floor bowling today and over 120 people supporting us at the event. It was a lot of fun to put on, a lot of fun to watch, and a lot of fun to be a part of.”