BREWER – The parking lot was filled with vehicles of every description. I could hear cheers and whoops as I walked from my car to the door.

To reach the entrance of the Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes where the 1994 World Team Candlepin Championships are taking place through Saturday, I made my way around Jaguars and Fords, fully equipped vans and trucks, cars big and small with license plates confirming the definition of this program as unique to the Northeast: Maine, New Hampshire, Masachusetts, and Vermont; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

Hanwell Lanes of Fredericton, New Brunswick – with team members Bob Douthright, Hal Peterson, Kansas Snow, Ken Hopper, Claude Chaverie, Tony Le Blanc, Gary Gallant, and Wayne Jones – is the defending champion. Monday’s singles Knockout Round reduces the field of approximately 180 professional male bowlers to 32.

In that head-to-head championship, Chris Sargent was the winner, earning $2,500, with Bill Curtis of Bangor finishing second to collect $1,200.

World team matches run 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Thursday. Friday’s last knockout round runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at which time the quarterfinals begin. Saturday, the semifinals run from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. when the finals start.

You could have knocked the pins out from under me when tournament director Charles Milan IV told me what this tournament means to the economy of the area: approximately one-quarter of a million dollars.

Milan said the nearly 200 bowlers make a vacation of their week here, and many bring their families. He figures folks spend up to $600 per person on the week. Additionally, the top-quality bowlers – who are amazing to watch – attract a substantial number of spectators. Even on a Monday morning, I had to search for a place to stand to get a good view of the action.

I learned much during my visit with Charles the Fourth – from the business and personal side – and appreciated the fact he took time out of his harried schedule to talk with me about an event now in its 10th year.

For example: the pins, which I remember as wooden, are now made of an alloy. The plates on which the pins stand – awaiting the perfectly thrown strike – is polished with Lemon Pledge floor wax. This is not a product endorsement, by any means. It’s just the Milans discovered – of all the products available in the business – that it works best. And the pit into which the pins fall? Coated with car wax. Milan’s explanation was simple: these products have the least buildup, which allows the machinery to function properly.

On the personal side, did you know Charlie Milan III – our own “King of the Candlepins” – just won the Canadian Masters Tournament? Did you know he has bowled in five decades – starting in the ’50s – and that he is in training for his sixth: in the year 2000?

People are what make tournaments memorable. The Milans, of course, are candlepin bowling in Maine. But they are not alone in attracting people to the Brewer facility. They have a lot of support from staff members such as Arlene Mayo and her retired husband, Gene, who helps out when he’s needed.

The day manager since 1962, Arlene is proud of the quality of professional bowler this tournament attracts.

“They are wonderful, wonderful people,” she said. “This is your best out of all New England.” She feels privileged to have “the caliber of bowler in the house.”

Arlene said the bowlers, who return year after year, are like one big family. They are supportive of each other in the good times of their sport, and in the bad times if one of their number is ill.

“They are very giving people,” she said.

For Charles the Fourth, his 10th tournament is an awakening.

“See the asterisks beside the teams?” he asked as he pointed to the roster. Marjam Supply of Massachusetts won the first four tournaments. “There’s a reason for that.” I looked at the roster. The same names appear year after year.

“They were very good young bowlers then,” he said. “They won with five- and six-man teams. They needed no sub, or maybe one. But they broke up, and are bowling with other teams now. I realize I’ve watched them become very good mature bowlers now.” cut? As I was leaving, I asked Charles the Fourth if it would be easier to fax us the daily results rather than hand deliver them.

“Can’t,” he said. “My fax machine got hit by lightning.”

The fax sat beside an open sliding glass door. Lightning bored a hole through the screen and made a direct hit. Computer’s fine. Phone’s fine. Charles is fine.

Guess Mother Nature wanted to get into the act. Strikes on the lanes. Strikes on the fax.