Wellington Chamber Luncheon Highlights 2013 Equestrian Season
Wellington, FL-November 20, 2012-The Wellington Chamber of Commerce held their sixth annual “Kick-Off to the Equestrian and Polo Season” luncheon Wednesday, Nov. 14 at the Wanderers Club. The event, sponsored by Victor Connor and The Connor Financial Group, was well attended by leaders of Wellington’s business and equestrian communities.
The luncheon began with a presentation by Connor highlighting the personalized financial services offered at The Connor Financial Group to their clients. Then, the audience’s attention turned to the featured equestrian program.
Representatives from four of Wellington’s leading equestrian organizations were present-Mark Bellissimo from Equestrian Sports Productions, John Wash of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, Noreen O’Sullivan from Wellington Classic Dressage and Marla Connor from Gulfstream Polo. Each presented an overview of their individual organization’s historical development in Wellington, and what they foresee for their representative sport’s upcoming equestrian season.
The economic impact of all four equestrian entities’ growth in Palm Beach County, and Wellington, specifically, has been tremendous over the years. Each organization has become an economic engine supporting the local business community and attracting world-wide recognition and top equestrians to the community. Hosting the premiere equestrian events in Wellington translates into a stronger business community for everyone.
Noreen O’Sullivan and Wellington Classic Dressage exemplify this principle of equestrian growth in Wellington positively impacting the local economy. At the luncheon, she presented a short video highlighting the world-wide respect Wellington’s dressage events and competitions have earned. O’Sullivan has spent the past 15 years managing dressage events in Palm Beach County and has become one of the driving forces behind the sport. She has been a leader of many dressage groups and competitions— including managing the Gold Coast Dressage Association, Wellington Classic Dressage, International Sport Horse Palm Beach and the World Dressage Masters CDI5* competition.
Last season, the sport of dressage brought to Palm Beach County over 2,600 rider/horse combinations, along with all of their support staff, to compete in area events. “The World Dressage Masters 2012 competition alone was estimated to have attracted over 12,000 spectators to their event. . . and these spectators all spent money in area business, hotels and restaurants,” explained O’Sullivan.
The global prominence of Wellington’s dressage events is exemplified by this past year’s US Olympics team. O’Sullivan proudly pointed out, “Three out of the four members of the U.S. Olympic Dressage team actually qualified for their Olympic positions at events held here in Wellington, and that doesn’t count all of the international riders that qualified for their respective country’s Olympic teams!”
The Wellington Chamber’s sixth annual “Kick-Off to the Equestrian and Polo Season” luncheon emphasized the mutually beneficial relationship between the equestrian industry and the local business community. The four equestrian organizations−Wellington Classic Dressage, Equestrian Sports Productions, International Polo Club Palm Beach and Gulfstream Polo−are beneficial to the d Coast Dressage Association.
