By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With the inaugural Legacy Golf Classic a week behind us, Allan and Anne Thompson are reflecting on the success that the golf classic brought.

The event, presented by the Allan and Anne Thompson Community Fund, named the Caledon Agricultural Society as a primary grant recipient, with funds directed to their Capital Campaign Building Fund.

“Allan and I, and certainly the team that was helping us, are overwhelmingly grateful,” said Anne Thompson. “To the sponsors and the golfers, certainly to TPC Toronto Osprey Valley, because it's challenging to launch an event, you never know if people are going to show up, support you, and so we're all incredibly grateful that we had a sold-out compliment of golfers, and we really tried to put on a top-drawer event for them and for our guests, I think we delivered.”

The event had 144 golfers, with foursomes selling out as early as mid-June.

Anne Thompson said that immediate engagement was a strong indicator of the support they would receive.

“We have a really generous heart-centered community that steps up when they need to be. What we saw playing out that day is what we see generally playing out across events across Caledon,” she says.

She shared that not only was it incredible to see the support for the event, but also for the Caledon Agricultural Society and their Capital Campaign Building Fund.

They can estimate that a total of $70,000 will be donated to the Caledon Agricultural Society.

She shared she and Allan feel “very honoured” to be a part of the “launching pad” for the project.

“It will be an important facility here on the west side of Caledon. For a number of years now, there's a demand and an interest in something on the west side. The Fair Board have stepped up and said that they'd like to be the ones to do it, and it will need to be a partnership with the Fair Board and the community and our municipality,” she said. “We're pretty excited about that.”

Thompson said one of the day's big successes was entirely out of their control: the beautiful weather.

“We couldn't have asked for a better day,” she said.

The weather, she said, paired with the “beautiful course” of Heathlands at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley, made for a great day.

“Out with friends, good day, raising money for a good cause. It makes a pretty good recipe for happy golfers and happy recipients.”

Anne Thompson said the whole experience left her “encouraged” and also energized, as she shared they have committed to presenting the event again.

“For Allan and I, we're very grateful for everyone who stepped up to show their support and participate with us. We live in a great community. As I say, Caledon is very generous. Our businesses and families step up when we need it for a variety of causes. There's a lot of us out there in the community and people have choices, so we were just grateful that they chose to partner and participate with us.”

They are excited, she said, about hosting the event again and hope to replicate the success of this year's event.

“Grateful for everybody and certainly the staff and the whole TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. That's an incredible facility and we're very grateful that they're willing to partner with us to help make a difference in our community.”