Bowling club celebrates 100 years

The Essex County Lawn Bowling Club, which is located in Bloomfield, at Watsessing Park, celebrated its centennial Saturday, June 1.

The event attracted a good number of regulars, residents and Essex County Executive Joseph Di Vincenzo.

According to distinguished club member, Skip Arculli, lawn bowling is a simple game similar to bocci. Arculli, a township resident, was the gold medalist in the 1984 Lawn Bowling World Championships, held in Scotland. He said at one time the club at Watsessing Park was the most competitive in the country.

In lawn bowling, a small white ball called a jack is rolled onto the green. Each competitor, having four grapefruit-sized balls, then tries to come closest to the jack. But this only might score a point because scoring is tricky.

Points are only gained when a player’s ball is in sequence to the ball closest to the jack and that ball is theirs. Since balls can be knocked away from the jack and the scoring sequence change from roll to roll, a tally is not certain until the final roll comes to rest. So, think of the game as bowling and the scoring as a house of cards.

Veronica Sum, the club secretary and president of the national organization, Bowls USA, said the Watsessing bowling season is from April to October. There are weekend club tournaments and the club plays host to northeast divisional championships. This is made up of clubs from Maine to Virginia.

“At that competition, you get to meet other bowlers and there is more competition, if you’re into competition,” she said.

But the club also welcomes social bowlers.

“We encourage everyone to bowl,” she said. “That’s how you get better. You have to try.”

Membership at the Essex County club is currently 35.

“But when Skippy Arculli was bowling, there were 180,” Sum said. “He stopped bowling in 2018.”

Membership is a pretty good deal, she said. It only costs $60 annually and a member gets access to the clubhouse and green at all times. Equipment is part of the deal.
Members of the Essex County club once came from Rhode Island, Lake George, NYC and Long Island. Some even came from Massachusetts.

“But they have a new green in New Bedford,” Sum said, referring to the Massachusetts bowlers. “They don’t come here as much anymore, but they’re here today to show support.”

There are seven lawn bowling divisions in Bowls USA, Sum said, and about 75 lawn bowling clubs. A member of the Essex County club, which is the only club in New Jersey, can bowl on any green.

  bloomfield, Lawn Bowling