Orlando kickball showcase brings games, vendors and family fun to park

Lake Lorna Doone Park hosted a full-day kickball showcase Sunday, with the City of Orlando listing the event as the Celebrity Track Star Kickball Game from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 1519 West Church Street. The setup went well beyond a single game. Vendors, food trucks and a bounce house for kids were part of the draw, giving the park a festival feel that stretched the action across six hours instead of a quick stop-and-go exhibition.

That format fit the park. Lake Lorna Doone is a 12-acre historic community park with an inclusive playground, a walking loop and a lake fountain, and it has already gone through more than $8 million in renovations. The work was supported by a public-private partnership involving the City of Orlando, Florida Citrus Sports and the National Football League, turning the site into a more polished stage for sports and neighborhood events. The park sits next to Camping World Stadium, which adds to its profile on Orlando’s sports map.

Lift Orlando’s plan for the park called for more events, practices and games to create youth sports and recreational opportunities throughout the year. Sunday’s kickball showcase matched that vision almost perfectly. Instead of treating kickball like a novelty act, the event leaned into turnout, with family-friendly extras built to keep people on site long after the first inning. That matters in a sport like kickball, where the on-field competition can be simple but the atmosphere can do a lot of the heavy lifting.

The event’s celebrity and track-star branding gave it another layer of appeal, but the real story was the way the day was structured around access and visibility. Kids had a bounce house. Adults had food trucks and vendors. Players had a park designed for organized recreation. In a city with no shortage of summer options, the Celebrity Track Star Kickball Game used Lake Lorna Doone’s renovated grounds to sell something bigger than a matchup: a sports day built to pull in families, casual spectators and local fans in one place.