West Pasco Young Professionals pleased with Chasco debut of bowling tourney

PORT RICHEY — The West Pasco Young Professionals got involved in this year's Chasco Fiesta by hosting the festival's first bowling tournament.

The event took place last Wednesday at Lane Glo North and involved 148 bowlers raising funds for the American Cancer Society, the SPCA, and Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It's the first event put on by the Young Professionals, who are a part of the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce.

"We had a mixer at this bowling alley a few years ago and it went really well so we decided to use this venue again," Young Professionals president Julie Rogers said. "This is our third year of existence but this is our first year doing an event for the Chasco Fiesta and it sold out."

The lanes were crowded with 37 four-person teams dressed in a wide range of themes. A team from local business Dance Recreation won the competition.

The Chasco Fiesta Bowling Tournament, which charged $100 per team, raised about $2,900 for charities after expenses.

"My Facebook page is loaded with comments about this event," Rogers said. "Everybody is having a great time, and the bowling alley has no more lanes to hold all the people that have come out. The chamber recommended we do a fundraiser so we did and this is the result."

For personal attorney Jeff Herzog, the event was good for networking with fellow professionals in his own age group. Dressed as a boat captain, Herzog led his team of sailors to the event because he was forced to.

"My girlfriend made me do this, but I'm glad she did," Herzog said. "It's good to meet people in the community who are in your age group (and) are in certain areas professionally where it could be good to know people. The Young Professionals group is growing when you look at the success of this event."

For others like Julie Knight of Mary Kay, the bowling tournament was a place to see familiar faces and meet potential clients.

"There are a lot of faces here for me to do makeup for," Knight said. "This is my first young professionals outing but I'll definitely be at more. I've seen a lot of these people out in the community so it's nice to finally put a name to the faces."

David Rice can be reached at davidrice83@gmail.com.