Two years after the Ellensburg bowling alley, Rodeo Bowl, was closed and purchased by the county, plans for the property’s future are still up in the air.

“Currently, there is no plan,” said Mickey Webb, Kittitas Valley’s event center director.

However, according to Webb, the county’s $550,000 purchase of the property last spring could bring a new era for the building.

Because of Rodeo Bowl’s abrupt closure, many unclaimed items remain. Before any renovations can begin, those items must be removed.

The public was given until the end of August to file claims on anything they had left inside the building. The remaining items will be auctioned or salvaged.

Webb says that once the building is emptied and plans are developed, it will most likely be used as a storage facility and might eventually serve as a festival hall for the fairgrounds.

With a history that reaches back to days before World War II, the bowling alley, for most locals, seemed like something that had always existed and many thought would always remain a local landmark.

However, in the last two decades, the decline of interest in bowling across the nation forced many bowling alleys to close. This decline, coupled with legal issues regarding unpaid taxes, ultimately forced Rodeo Bowl to close in the fall of 2013.

Unfortunately for those hoping to see the bowling alley reopen, Webb confirmed that the county does not have any plans to do so.

According to Chris Hashimoto, senior exercise science major, Rodeo Bowl was a place close enough to Central that friends could easily meet up on the weekends for cheap drinks and affordable fun.

“That place was awesome,” Hashimoto said. “It’s really too bad it’s gone.”