Casselberry vs. Maitland in a charity golf round

The Maitland and Casselberry Chambers of Commerce hope their newest joint event is a hole in one.

The “Tales of Two Cities,” golf tournament will head to the links for the first time on Saturday, March 10, at the Casselberry Golf Club. The tournament is open to all golfers, with teams signing up as either a Maitland or a Casselberry team. And teams can help charity at the same time; the Maitland Chamber is representing the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida and the Casselberry Chamber is playing for the Care Cabin by Casselberry Kidz, Inc. to raise money for charity.

“Tales of Two Cities” will begin with registration at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 10, followed by breakfast, golf, then lunch. It’s $100 per person or $375 per foursome, meals included. Visit maitlandchamber.com or casselberrychamber.com for more information.

The golf tournament is the first of its type to be held in partnership between Maitland and Casselberry, something Mary Penn, golf committee chair for the Maitland Chamber, looks forward to keeping.

“Our chambers are very similar in a lot of ways,” Penn said. “Our chambers struggle with membership and getting people connected and so we just came up with this idea and I just ran with it.”

The tournament will also be the first major event since Maitland canceled or postponed all of its annual large-scale events due to factors like low attendance and lack of interest.

Tim Veigle, who will represent the Casselberry Chamber during the tournament, said the golf tournament will be a good way to show the community that Casselberry and Maitland are not “forgotten cities.”

“We thought it would be a good idea to collaborate and build something big so that people remember we’re here,” Veigle said.

Jeff Aames, executive director for the Maitland Chamber, has been trying to get a golf tournament set up for a while. When Penn talked to him about her idea, he was excited.

“I was very grateful that I had somebody who wanted to step up – a non-golfer – step up and chair it,” Aames said.

While both chambers are still on the lookout for possible surprise golf stars within their communities, the teams will each feature prominent people in their respective communities like the Casselberry police chief and the Maitland city manager.

The winning city — all teams’ scores will be tallied together to determine the winner — will receive a trophy which will be displayed in their city hall, sparking friendly competition between the chambers as to who will take the trophy home.

“We’re already marking a spot off in our city hall,” Penn said.

Though each chamber is convinced they will win the tournament, Veigle said that at the end of the day, everyone will be a winner because the chosen charities will get help and the tournament will promote the community. Deborah Morris, president of the Casselberry Chamber, agreed with Veigle.

“It’s always nice to do something that you enjoy doing knowing that you’re giving back to those in need,” Morris said.

Interested golfers don’t have to tee off for the city they live in – they can choose instead to play for the charity they wish to represent. Registration is still open and costs $375 for a foursome and $100 per individual golfer.

For Penn, the tournament means more than just raising money for charity and having the chambers work together.

It’s also about camaraderie out on these friendly fairways.

“We want our cities to interact with each other,” Penn said. “We’re not forgotten cities, we’re here.”