ATHABASCA – The 21st rendition of the Rotary Golf Classic at the Athabasca Golf & Country Club is in the books, and it was a resounding success, according to Bernie Giacobbo, who chaired the event committee.
The community classic, held June 2, brought 132 out onto the course to take part in a variety of golf themed events, including chipping and putting competitions and hole-in-one prizes.
“We’re just incredibly blessed to get the support that we get from within the community, and now from outside the community as well,” said Giacobbo. “Today was just excellent, from the people that showed up to the volunteers. This doesn’t happen without people stepping it, and they’re so happy to do it! It’s just neat ya know?”
The bi-annual event raises funding for a variety of community projects, including the Rotary Trail around the Town of Athabasca.
“We’re looking right now to identify what the next major project will be for the celebrity dinner, and we’re looking for more minor, less expensive projects. Some of this will go towards the Rotary Trail, and then the rest will go towards projects that we’ll work with the community to identify,” said Giacobbo, later adding that some of the funds will go towards project maintenance.
Earlier this year, the club completed their $250,000 pledge to the aquatic centre when they donated the remaining $100,000 in early February. While the next major project hasn’t been determined yet, Giacobbo expects that they’ll have something picked out within the next few months.
Giacobbo also took a moment to thank the volunteers: seven high school students from the Rotary Interact club at Edwin Parr Composite School (EPC), as well as three adults helped run the chipping and putting events and set up for the steak dinner. Additional volunteers from Rotary manned checkpoints along the way, where the golfers could grab a drink and a burger to help them through the round.
Getting the event organized takes a while; the seven-person planning committee spent months on the project, recruiting sponsors, organizing side events, and working to ensure a smooth day for all involved.
“We’re lucky that there’s an extra hole at the golf course, so we were able to fit in a chipping event,” said Giacobbo, noting the course has a 19th hole that is used during repairs that would take a hole out of commission. “It just gives us an opportunity to add in a little extra fundraising.”
Giacobbo doesn’t think that there’s any particular event that makes the day such a hit; instead, he believes the overall fun focused atmosphere and the quality work from the course staff keeps bringing people back.
“A lot of people come back because of the quality of the golf course, and the way we run the tournament. We do a lot of fun activities that are golf related, so you use your seven iron for one hole. This is a fun tournament; we aren’t looking at scores, we draw prizes, we want to get people who don’t golf out, get them to have some fun, and maybe win a prize.”
