Close-Up Magic at the Driving Impact Golf Classic in Orlando

On a Sunday evening in April, about 300 guests gathered on the lawn at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club for the VIP Welcome Party kicking off the fifth annual Driving Impact Celebrity Golf Classic presented by AdventHealth. A live band played while pro athletes and local business leaders mingled under the oaks. Four magicians from the See Magic Live Orlando roster worked the crowd with interactive close-up magic, performing card tricks and sleight-of-hand inches from guests' drinks.

Four Magicians, Three Hours, One Lawn

The format was straightforward: Kostya Kimlat, Jimmy Ichihana, Sebastian Gerhardt, and Noah Fay spread across the outdoor reception, each engaging small clusters of guests for five to ten minutes at a time before moving to the next group. The party ran from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., which meant three full hours of coverage across the lawn.

Strolling magic works well at this kind of event because there's no formal dinner, no seating chart, and no fixed program. Guests drift between the band, the bar, and conversation, and the magicians move with them. A group watching a card vanish from someone's hand tends to draw a few more people over, which starts a new conversation and keeps the energy circulating. At an outdoor cocktail reception where the whole point is mixing, that circulation matters.

With four performers working simultaneously, the coverage was dense enough that most guests encountered at least one magician during the evening, and many ran into two or three. Each performer brings a different style: Ichihana's card work is rooted in classical technique he studied during a year in Madrid; Gerhardt blends storytelling from his Norwegian upbringing into a calm, direct approach that makes the payoffs hit harder; Fay, a charming performer who joined the team as a teenager, connects quickly with younger guests and older ones alike. Kimlat, who founded See Magic Live in Orlando in 2010, anchored the group.

What Lift Orlando Is Building

The Driving Impact Celebrity Golf Classic is hosted by Florida Citrus Sports, the nonprofit behind Camping World Stadium and events like the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. The first four Driving Impact events each raised over $200,000 for Lift Orlando.

Lift Orlando is a place-based nonprofit that has worked since 2013 to strengthen the historic neighborhoods surrounding Camping World Stadium in west Orlando, including the Communities of West Lakes, Washington Shores, Lake Mann, and Johnson Village. Their work spans mixed-income housing, cradle-to-career education pathways, health and wellness programming, and long-term economic development.

This year's event carried extra momentum. Just days before the VIP party, the Orange County School Board voted unanimously to approve a partnership between Lift Orlando and Orange County Public Schools to convert Orange Center Elementary into a K-8 STEAM-focused charter academy. Parents had already voted in January, with 82% approving the plan. The converted school, which currently serves 444 students, is expected to open in August 2026 as the first public-private charter school of its kind in Florida. Lift Orlando has also made every Jones High School student eligible for tuition-free attendance at Valencia College through 2029.

Where to Learn More

Lift Orlando hosts the Driving Impact Celebrity Golf Classic each spring. To learn more about their work in the Communities of West Lakes or to support their education and housing initiatives, visit liftorlando.org. If you're planning an Orlando fundraiser, gala, or corporate reception and want live close-up magic as part of the evening, browse the roster at See Magic Live.