Golf tournament, picnic to honor the Lenobels

If it were up to Hal Lenobel, Hal & Hazel Lenobel Appreciation Day wouldn’t be happening.

“I was not too anxious about it,” he said.

Mayor Jim Brown said that getting Lenobel, a notoriously private guy, to agree to the event was difficult.
“We very carefully orchestrated the entire thing, and after everything was in place and his family had booked their flights to get here, then we told him,” Brown said.

Lenobel at first said “no” but eventually agreed to the event.

That’s why Hal & Hazel Lenobel Appreciation Day is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 21, and will include a golf tournament and picnic.

The event will honor Lenobel, who resigned from the Longboat Key Town Commission in July after 12 years of service, including three terms as mayor. His late wife, Hazel, who died Dec. 29, 2011, was a Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center (SPARCC) volunteer, an avid golfer and reader and an active part of the Longboat Harbour community.

The golf tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. at the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s Harbourside Golf Course. A community lawn picnic in and around the Harbourside Dining Room will follow from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The picnic will include other events, such as a putting contest, sack race and watermelon-eating contest, along with live entertainment.

Proceeds will benefit the Joe Turnesa Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

The event will also include a presentation by Brown, who served with Lenobel for the past three-and-a-half years on the commission.

“Hal’s a person of integrity,” Brown said. “He stands behind his principles. He’s not going to change his opinions just to be popular, and I respect that.”

The event is a fitting tribute to Lenobel, because he’s a legend on the golf course, as well as at the commission dais. By the time he gave up golf a few years ago, he had 13 holes-in-one to his name — an amateur record in Florida.

IF YOU GO
Hal & Hazel Lenobel Appreciation Day
What: The golf tournament and family picnic will honor the community service of longtime Longboat Key Town Commissioner Hal Lenobel and his late wife, Hazel. Cost is $25 for the picnic only and $125 for the golf tournament and picnic. To register, call 387-1675.
When: Picnic is at 8 a.m.; community picnic is at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 21
Where: Longboat Key Club and Resort Harbourside Golf Course and Dining Room, 3000 Harbourside Drive