Kiger's Notebook

More indoor sports + Rochester

Kevin Lowery, owner of Rochester’s Soccer World dome, 380 Woodlake Drive S.E., is adding to the indoor sport options by taking over the former Jets Gymnastics building on the other side of the city at 4430 19th. N.W.

His plans are to keep people moving by running turf from wall-to-wall in the large facility and renaming it Arena Sports.

He plans to offer flag football, lacrosse and arena softball in the new arena when it opens Oct. 19. It will also be available for birthday parties and special events.

Arena softball, which is a faster-paced version of the outdoor sport, allows each team 16 times at bat each inning and there are no foul balls.

Creation of Rochester’s newest arena came about quickly after Lowery was approached to buy the site a few weeks ago.

“I’ve always been wanting to kick around this idea. So the opportunity came up and we decided to give it a try,” he says.

Five to six employees will likely staff the arena, Lowery said.

My defeat in ice cream eating smackdown

You know how the buzz during the Olympics was that Michael Phelps had an ideal body type to be a swimmer.

I would say that KTTC's weather guru Ted Schmidt is genetically the perfect ice cream-eating machine.'

What he does to a block of ice cream reminds one of what a crocodile does to an unsuspecting wildebeast. It is devastating, violent and decisive. 

Anyway, I need to tip my cap to Schmidt for his decisive win in the pseudo-celebrity ice cream eating contest last night at the Possibilities  Ice Cream social.

By the way, Mayor Ardell Brede was the mystery contestant and he held his own well. 

It was a perfect night for it and the ice cream itself was a great prize that I really enjoyed once I was allowed to use a bowl and a spoon.

By the way, watch for an announcement later today about my next ... uh...unusual... public appearance coming up on Wednesday.

And the best thing is I'm opening it up as opportunity for one of my loyal blog readers to get their own chance in the spotlight.

It will not be messy, I promise.

House of Bounce pumped up for opening

Looks like the House of Bounce crew has really been hopping to it lately. 

I hear from the owners that the jumping gym will re-open Friday in its new Rochester space that is almost twice as large as its current one at 2535 U.S. 14 West.

With the cloud canopy covering the entire sky this a.m., it might be good to have an indoor play option Friday.

The House of Bounce is hopping to new spot

As usual, Ow Quit it and the ever astute Stewartville Mom beat me to the punch and figured out my tease.

Yes, the House of Bounce is on the move. Here's the news:

One Rochester business is taking a wild bounce to a new and much larger “house.”

After a few months of catering to a busy half-pint party crowd, The House of Bounce is hopping into a new space that is almost twice as large as its current one at 2535 U.S. 14 West.

“Instead of almost 10,000 (square feet), we’ll have more than 18,000,” says co-owner Ed Hiatt of the upcoming move to 6301 Bandel Road, facing U.S. 52.

The business offers a number of large inflatable bounce features for kids to jump and play on. It hosts parties as well as daily bounces.

House of Bounce owners hope to make the move June 7 to June 8 and re-open in the new House on June 9.

Expect Ed and Sue Hiatt to use that extra space for laser tag as well as an arcade. 

What about the entrance, which is pretty congested at the current space?

“It is huge,” says Ed Hiatt. “And it is totally separate from the bounce area.”

Another benefit of the Bandel Road location is that the 28-foot-high ceilings give the Hiatts a few more feet of height

A larger kitchen area will also probably mean an expanded menu of food offerings.

Hiatt expects to hire additional workers to his staff of 14.

Comings & goings in N.W. Roch.

Cruising around the Northwest Plaza on Rochester's 55th Street  - the north Wal-Mart - I saw some interesting stuff.

First, Chris Popp is mostly right. The party is over at Party City in the strip center that includes Gander Mountain and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Well, over might be too much.

The party is just on the move. Party America, the..uh..paty store I guess, closed Thursday and it is being blended in with Factory Card Outlet in the TJ Maxx Plaza on Salem Road. 

The new name?

Factory Card & Party Outlet.  Uh....OK. Party on.

A little ways north of the empty party store, PetCo is really partying along on its massive new store that will house the pet supplies retailer when the current northwest Rochester store moves from its U.S. 52 North frontage road

Massages to help horses w/ stress and muscle tension

Jannis Hanson wants to ease the stress of horses and their riders.

She recently trotted out her new Rochester business, Ride in Rhythm.

For the horses, she offers massages. 

“Horses, particularly ones competing and jumping, can carry a lot of stress in their muscles,” says Hanson, who is certified in equine massage.

Look for her to offer her services during the Olmsted County 4-H Fair this summer.

For riders, Hanson creates and sells Rhythm Beads. 

The beads are horse necklaces featuring small bells.

“The bells give a rhythm and a beat to help riders with training their horses. The rider and the horse can hear the bells and use them to move in sync,” she says.

They are sold at Rochester Feed and Pet Supply as well as Leads and Leashes.

DoApp gets punchy

The guys at DoApp, the phone and online application software makers with two developers/founders in Rochester, are still goofing around.

And that is why they have landed a knock-out punch with their 99 cent downloadable game, Punch-O-Meter.

Punch-O-Meter, released on November, is the top paid application in the sports section of Apple's App Store.

That means more people are buying it than applications like "Where to Golf," "Sport Score," "iTrailMap 3D GPS tracking for ski and snowboard" and "Beer Pong."

Here's a description of the game from the DoApp Web site:

Step right up! Step right up, one and all! Hey tough guy. Think you've got strength? Think you've got power? Ready for an app that will really leave an impression? It's time to test your punching prowess with Punch-O-Meter by DoApp, Inc.
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Punch-o-meter is not your standard carnival game test of strength. Challenge yourself or challenge a friend. No need to have them come over to strap on the gloves; send them your punch score through text or email. When they punch back, the winner is determined and the scores are posted on the Punch-O-Meter website. Make sure you get some practice in, because this one-of-a-kind game is tough to cheat.

You get immediate feedback from your punch, a visual meter shows your numeric score, and one of more than 40 comeback phrases pops up, such as:
• Thank you, sir. May I have another?
• That's pathetic.
• Was that a punch or a door knock?
• 50 more push-ups a day might do the trick, Sparky!
• Dude, your guns are illegal!
• I am seeing stars right now.

Punch-O-Meter (POM) calculates a punch score based on multiple factors and characteristics of the punch thrown. A hard punch may be beatable by the same hard punch thrown in a straighter line. Factors that POM considers when calculating a punch are: speed of your punch, strength of your punch, and straightness of your punch.
To improve your punch, try eliminating things like the "flick" movement of the device at the end of the punch or punching through a straighter line. Long story short, punch it out and you'll figure it out.

House of Bounce is hopping

Remember the House of Bounce? That's the kids play place filled with inflatable bouncy features like slides, "moon walks" and games.

Well, Sue and Ed Hiatt opened on schedule Monday in the commercial park by Northern Power & Tool Supply along the U.S. 14 West frontage road.

Now you have a place to haul all of those visiting kids after Thanksgiving.

I wish them better luck than the space's former tenant had.