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Lengels innovate
to put products
in local kitchens
By Carol Ann Gregg
CNHI Correspondent
Lengel Brothers Farm and
Market has been a dairy for
three generations. The third
generation – Gary, David
and Elliott – added vegeta-
bles to the mix in 2002.
Located in Findley Town-
ship along Route 58 between
Mercer and Grove City, the
farm is always on the look-
out for new trends in the
agricultural world.
Elliott, an innovative
farmer, is always looking for
interesting things to con-
tribute to the farm. He is re-
sponsible for developing part-
nerships with other farmers
and marketing for the enter-
prise.
“The first year we sold
bedding plants from a wag-
on,” Elliott said. It was about
where their farm market
building now stands. They
also planted and sold sweet
corn.
For a dairy and crop
farmer, adding sweet corn is
often the first step in market-
ing what they grow directly
to the consumer. They have
the necessary equipment and
use the skills they learned
for planting field corn, the
same skills it takes to grow
sweet corn that feeds their
dairy herd
Among the latest trends
the brothers are taking ad-
vange of is customer de-
mand for fresh, local prod-
ucts.
Elliott is forming a CSA
cooperative, which stands for
community-supported agri-
culture. Through it, farmers
and consumers share the
risk in growing their pro-
duce.
The farmer plants and
By Tom Davidson
Herald Staff Writer
They still bowl “old-
school” style at Thornton
Hall Bowling Lanes in
Sharon.
In an age when other
bowling alleys offer midnight
bowling with a motley array
of flashing lights and glow-in-
the-dark pins and bells and
whistles like computerized
scoring systems that do
everything but roll the ball
down the lane, the 44-lane
landmark at the corner of
Thornton Street and Hall Av-
enue is a throwback.
They’re one of the last, if
not the last, to require
bowlers keep their own
score, using pencils on a
scoresheet.
“I guess you could say
we’re traditionalists,” co-own-
er David Scott said. “The em-
phasis here is pretty much
the same as when we started
in the business.”
In 1950, David’s father
Samuel Scott and Sam’s
brothers Francis, Joseph and
Anthony opened Thornton
Hall, which initially had 22-
lanes, David Scott said.
In those days before auto-
matic pin-setters, they em-
ployed about 50 “pin boys”
who set the pins.
The automatic pinsetter
came into use about 1959 or
1960, and in 1961 another 22
lanes were added, along with
an elevator to the lanes,
which sit atop retail space
and enclosed parking. Since
then, little has changed at
the business, David Scott
said.
The lacquer finish on the
lanes has been replaced with
urethane, which lasts longer,
but everything else is much
as it was in the Shenango
Valley’s heyday.
David Scott’s been active
in the business since 1971.
“When I first started, the
demand for lanes and the
supply of lanes (in the area)
was pretty well matched,”
Scott said.
In the decades since, as
the valley’s industrial base
has eroded, so has the bowl-
ing business, he said.
Thornton Hall once host-
ed about 70 different
leagues, he said. Now it’s
more like 30 or 35. There
used to be a “vigorous day-
time ladies league” complete
with a babysitting service.
“Now no babysitters are
needed,” David Scott said.
The only change the alley
has made recently is the ad-
dition of a juke box and a
stereo-quality sound system,
which some people like and
others don’t.
On a recent Friday after-
noon, the lanes were desert-
ed until a “rush” of about a
dozen bowlers about 5 p.m.
Although less that it used
to be, “league business is
Outlook
Sunday,
February 5,
Sharon, Pennsylva
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A.C.L.D. ................
All Secure..............
Boyd’s Lawn & Tra
Brentford House ....
Buhl Mansion/Tara
Carine & Co...........
Custom Stone and
DES Construction ..
Donna’s Diner ......
Downtown Coffee
The Engraving Plac
Farrell community p
Gealy Memorials ....
Grimm’s Inc. ..........
Hermitage Agway ..
Hermitage commun
HHSDR Architects
/Engineers ........
Hilltop Pizza ..........
Howard Hanna ......
Hubbard Uptown Je
The Inner Office ....
Walberg Family Pha
Kitchen and Bath
Luke’s RC Planes ..
L’uva Bella ............
Mercer Co. Builder
Moonhawk Herbals
Muscarella’s Vitami
Center ..............
Noel’s Car Toys ....
Orchard Manor ......
Penn State-Shenan
Pine Lakes Golf Cl
R.W. Petruso Heari
and Audiology C
Ryan and Sons Plu
Scott’s Greenhous
and Garden Cen
Sharon Regional
Health System ..
Shenango on the G
Sisters of the Hear
St. Paul’s ..............
Stevenson Inn
and Restaurant
Susi Builders Suppl
The Learning Dog ..
TK Auto Body ........
Tri City Collision ....
Vein Center of
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Viking & White Sew
Warren Glass and
ABOUT OU
This year’s theme,
looks at how local bu
organizations addres
of logistics, geograp
ment of products an
Along with staff
Herald invited busin
tries and organiza
readers about
through stories and
A small label wit
“The Outlook” acco
report from a local b
ganization.
Saturda
SHARON
Tom Davidson/Herald
Nine-year-old Alan S. Carpec of West Middlesex bowls in youth league action at
Thornton Hall Bowling Lanes in Sharon. Alan cracks 100 most games, he said.
Tom Davidson/Herald
The traditon of pencils and paper scoresheets lingers
at Thornton Hall Bowling Lanes long after most lanes
have gone to automated scorekeeping equipment. One
advantage, a co-owner notes, is that it forces players
to understand how the game is scored.
Thornton
reflects a
golden era
of bowling
Pinsetters, fewer leagues about
the only changes in 2 generations
Jason Kapusta/Herald
A barn cat wanders past cattle in a barn at the
Lengel farm.
FINDLEY TOWNSHIP
Jason Kapusta/Herald
Elliot Lengel’s specialty is developing partnerships
with other farmers and marketing the products from the
farm he and his two brothers operate.
Consumers to share risk,
bounty with local farmers
See
THORNTON,
page E-2
See
SHARE,
page E-2
Jason
Car parts to S.
No problem for
Owner Kevin
and his staff are
about any pac
shipping chall
tomers can throw
Courtne
Old-order crafts
at the Amish P
Owner Collin
prides himself i
each of the Amis
who supply the
furniture and craf
at his New Wilmi