Altamonte Springs celebrates 45 years of special softball tradition

Altamonte Springs has kept a softball tradition alive long enough to become part of the city’s identity, and the 45th year put the focus on why it still matters. The annual game, presented with WKMG News 6, continued to draw a large crowd while supporting the city’s special needs program and reinforcing a partnership that has lasted far beyond its original organizers.

What began as a simple idea between the Altamonte Springs Chamber of Commerce and WKMG’s sales team grew into a community event built around participation, visibility, and belonging. The game has become a familiar spring fixture at Eastmont Park, where the News 6 team faces the Altamonte Springs All-Stars, a group connected to the city’s Special Needs program. That format has endured for decades because it offers something families do not easily find elsewhere: a public celebration of inclusion that also directly supports services for residents with disabilities.

The city’s special needs program provides social and recreational activities at a minimal cost for people ages 13 and up with mental or physical disabilities in Altamonte Springs and surrounding communities. City officials say financial assistance is available, and they define assisted participants as those who need help feeding themselves, using the restroom independently, or functioning in a group setting, with an assistant required at all times. That broader service network helps explain why the softball game has never been just a one-day outing. It has served as a public showcase for a program that depends on steady attention, volunteer support, and civic buy-in.

City records show how deeply the event is rooted. Altamonte Springs listed a 34th Annual Softball Game against News 6 in 2016, and later posted a 40th Annual Softball Game with NEWS 6 scheduled for May 3, 2025 at 624 Bills Lane, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714. A 2016 News 6 story said the game was played at Eastmont Park and matched the News 6 team against the Altamonte Springs All-Stars. In 2022, Altamonte Springs Recreation said the special-needs All-Stars were undefeated in the rivalry with a 39-0 record.

The setting also fits the city’s larger recreation profile. Altamonte Springs Recreation says its sports programming is designed for children of all ages, abilities and skill levels, and Eastmonte Park is described as a renovated sports facility with six baseball fields, five lighted and three with synthetic turf. That infrastructure gives the softball game a stable home, but the real reason it endures is simpler: it has become a recognizable part of Altamonte Springs life, a yearly reminder that civic traditions last when they still meet a public need.