INLA News
Summer Meeting 2018 Recap Rick Haggard, INLA Executive Director
Photo credits to Designscape and Wayne Gruber. Hannah Newell
To those of you who were not able to make the 2018 INLA Summer Tour and INEF Shooting for Scholarships ... well, you really missed out. I cannot begin to say enough about the nice and positive feedback I have received from several individuals who were in attendance on either one or both days. The turnout was fabulous as there were 48 tour registrants and 55 dinner guests for the first day event, which was on Central Time, and 65 shooters took part in the Shooting for Scholarship Fundraiser, which conveniently was on Eastern Time for us from the Indy area. The 2018 INLA Summer Meeting took place in Northwest Indiana, with Valparaiso being the host site and the Hampton Inn and Suites our host hotel. The INEF Shooting for Scholarships event took place at Back Forty Sporting Clays located in Bourbon, Indiana just east of Plymouth, Indiana. The 2018 Summer Meeting Committee was led by INLA Vice President Dean Ricci and with assistance from Wayne Gruber (another former INLA board member) and Kevin VanSessen (future INLA board member?) along with several other volunteers. Also this event would not run as smoothly without the assistance of these great ladies: Julie Gillen, Vickie Newell, Hannah Newell and Kim Glass.
Day 1: Tour It was a little challenging as we had several last-minute registrations, which made me a little nervous regarding only having three 15-passenger vans rented to take the group around. Luckily several in attendance from the “region” wanted to drive to make the travel home after dinner closer for them, so it all turned out just fine. Lunch was had on the first day at Hamstra Gardens in Wheatfield. Hamstra was such a pleasant and peaceful location and delicious food was catered by Yesteryear’s Meats Specialty Shoppe (voted best caterer in Jasper County in 2016). A special thanks to Brehob Nurseries LLC and Unilock for sponsoring this part of the tour. 8
Bob Scott’s residence (Ricci’s Landscape Mgmt project)
Maplewood Cemetary (Hubinger Landscaping project)
Hamstra Gardens just outside personal residence
lunch at Hamstra
House of the Future, Indiana Landmarks
Hamstra Gardens, DeMotte, Indiana Kriscke residence (Ricci’s Landscape Mgmt project)
After several stops in the afternoon the group was welcomed into Wayne Gruber’s home for a very elegant dinner, catered by Gamba Ristorante, with Bernie Gamba (owner) and his staff serving the meal. This was no normal dinner. The menu included beef tenderloin, rack of lamb, cauliflower risotto, mixed green salad, assorted breads, pasta salad, cream puffs … I have to stop as I’m getting hungry again. The evening ended with a first for the INLA as it was suggested to auction some of the items in the evening as not all in attendance were going to be shooting. WOW, what a success … the auction items that evening raised almost $2,500 in a very
Indiana nursery & Landscape association • www.inla1.org
short time. Items ranged from wine baskets, to statues, to Colts tickets, to the highest bid of the evening going to Bill Price of West Side Tractor Sales (also the dinner sponsor) for four skybox seats for either a Chicago Bulls or a Chicago Blackhawks game. This was supposed to be only two tickets, but thanks to Kevin VanSessen seeing the amount that was being bid, and also knowing this was for a scholarship fundraising, was changed to four tickets. I cannot begin to give enough thanks to all who attended. It was great seeing all the camaraderie, passion, and networking going on during this event. Plus, it was great to see many in the industry who I may only get to see every once in a great blue moon, continue in conversations as though it was just the previous evening we had spoken. Please see the itinerary of the tour on page 33, and feel free to contact me if you want further details on any of the stops … but you should have been there firsthand to have enjoyed the full effect.
