There are some parts of Mount Dora that are impossible to miss but surprisingly easy to know very little about.

The Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club is one of them.

Sitting at the foot of Donnelly Street, just steps from Lake Dora, its rows of meticulously maintained greens have been part of the downtown landscape for generations. You may have walked past. You may have watched from the sidewalk. You may have wondered exactly what everyone was doing out there.

On Saturday, October 3 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., you can stop wondering and step onto the greens yourself.

The Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club is hosting an Open House, inviting the public to meet its members, tour the club and actually try a sport that has been played in this same corner of Mount Dora since 1928.

And the story of how lawn bowling got here says quite a bit about the Mount Dora we know today.

The story begins several years before the first bowl was ever rolled.

Willard Bryant and Fred Thompson were neighbors from Hartford, Connecticut, who had discovered lawn bowling while vacationing in St. Petersburg. Bryant began spending winters in Mount Dora in the 1920s, when the town had a population of only around 1,000 people. Eventually, both families built homes here. Mount Dora

The two men believed lawn bowling could work in Mount Dora, too.

Their pitch was about more than recreation. They argued that adding the sport could help attract winter visitors to town — visitors who would stay in local hotels, shop in local stores and contribute to Mount Dora’s growing economy. They brought the idea to members of the town’s Park Commission, including Charles Edgerton, owner of the Lakeside Inn, and eventually secured the town’s support. Mount Dora

After several years of planning, 20 prospective bowlers officially organized the Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club on April 7, 1928. The first three hard-packed sand rinks were dedicated less than a week later. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

In other words, lawn bowling wasn’t simply added to Mount Dora after the town became a destination.

It was part of the effort to make Mount Dora a destination in the first place.

The club continued to grow along with the city.

In 1938, federal Works Progress Administration funding was used to add seven more rinks and install lights for night bowling. Four additional rinks were completed in 1963, bringing the facility to the 14 rinks it has today. At one point, membership reached 324. Historical Marker Database

The City of Mount Dora later recognized the club with its own historical marker, noting its significance as both a historic local institution and a destination that has attracted lawn bowlers from across the country and internationally. Historical Marker Database

And nearly a century after those first 20 members gathered, the club is very much alive.

Today, the Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club reports more than 200 members and describes itself as one of the largest Bowls USA-affiliated lawn bowling clubs in the country. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

If your knowledge of lawn bowling begins and ends with “it looks a little like bocce,” you’re not alone.

There are similarities, but lawn bowls have one very important difference: they aren’t perfectly symmetrical.

Each bowl has what’s known as a bias, causing it to follow a curved path as it slows rather than traveling straight ahead. Players roll toward a smaller white target ball called the jack, trying to finish closer to it than their opponents. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

That curve is where much of the strategy comes in.

Players have to judge speed, distance and direction while accounting for how dramatically their bowl will bend on its way down the green. A bowl can even be intentionally curved around another one to reach the jack.

It’s relatively simple to understand. Mastering it is another story.

The club sums it up well: it’s a sport that can be learned quickly but continue challenging players for years. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

That’s what makes the October 3 Open House particularly fun.

You don’t need to own a set of bowls. You don’t need to understand the rules. And you definitely don’t need to arrive looking like you’re ready for an international tournament.

The club will provide the equipment while members introduce newcomers to the basics of the game.

For those who decide they want to keep going, the club also offers a free five-day training course for prospective bowlers, with certified coaches available to help members develop their skills. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

And there are plenty of opportunities to play.

During the club’s summer schedule, which runs through October 31, recreational bowling takes place Monday through Saturday in the morning, with additional mid-morning games and evening bowling under the lights during the week. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

Those lights, incidentally, trace their roots all the way back to that 1938 expansion.

Spend a little time looking into the Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club and another thing becomes clear: the bowling is only part of it.

The clubhouse hosts weekly games of Mah Jong, Euchre, Pinochle and Bunco, along with social gatherings throughout the year. The club also holds annual events around holidays and milestones including Founders Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Christmas. Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club

That social side has been part of the club almost from the beginning.

Historical accounts describe lawn bowling and shuffleboard as major gathering points for Mount Dora’s residents and winter visitors during the city’s early decades, with intercity tournaments becoming popular as both sports grew. MOUNT DORA BUZZ

Nearly 100 years later, that original idea — recreation as a way to bring people together — hasn’t changed much.

There are historic places you admire from the sidewalk.

This isn’t one of them.

The Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club is a piece of the city’s history that is still being used for exactly what it was built for almost a century ago: getting outside, meeting people and rolling a few bowls beside Lake Dora.

So if you’ve ever walked past those greens and wondered what was happening, consider this your invitation to finally find out.

Mount Dora Lawn Bowling Club Open House
Saturday, October 3, 2026
9:30–11:30 a.m.
125 N. Edgerton Court, Mount Dora
Free to attend
Equipment provided for beginners

And who knows? You may go intending to satisfy your curiosity and leave having found your newest Mount Dora hobby.