Vice President’s Letter

What do you do in Winter?

When people find out that you manage turf for a living, what are some of the questions they ask? Some of the ones that I hear often include… What are your hours like? Do you work on Saturdays? What do you do day to day? For me, the first question is always, “What do you do in the winter?” Well, friend, I make sure all my equipment is in order, I budget, I plan, I schedule marketing for the upcoming season, I deal with taxes, I process renewals. The tasks are still endless, just different.

For turfgrass managers in warm season grass country, winter is supposed to be “off-season.” We all know that there is no such thing! Yes, I look forward to winter. We need a small reprieve from the intense grind of the growing season. But… there is no offseason for a turfgrass manager. However, I am always thankful for the drop in intensity, even if it’s not quite as big as casual observers would assume.

With that drop in intensity, winter affords more time for things like professional development, interaction with colleagues, and educational opportunities. I strongly encourage you to attend the 2024 Arkansas Turfgrass Association conference and experience all of these things in one venue. We have a great conference planned with engaging speakers, extremely relevant topics, pesticide recertification opportunities, hands on workshops available, a lunch and learn, and even a cornhole tournament!

Yep, you heard it right…there will be a Cornhole Tournament on Thursday evening. Many of you have experienced an unofficial cornhole event in years past. Well, we thought we might as well make it official with a bracket and all! Find a partner and be looking for ways to sign up in the coming weeks!

Registration for the 2024 conference is open! Get registered online. We have ample room for vendors at our trade show (vendor registration is also available online), and we are still looking for some additional sponsors. We are extremely excited about the momentum we gained from the 2023 conference. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and attendance was awesome! We are expecting even better things this coming year.

We want to thank all of our sponsors from 2023 and many that have already committed for 2024! Because of your support, the ATA is now in position to give multiple scholarships next spring. This is so awesome! In addition, we are able to use more funds to give back to the ATA membership! This year, we are planning a “Lunch & Learn” session where your lunch will be provided through the extra resources. You heard it…FREE LUNCH!!! And you might get to LEARN too!

We are so proud of the work that Courtney Landreth has put into helping ATA get back into this position. Thanks to her and our sponsors, things are going great with the ATA. We thank each of you for being a part of the exciting things happening with our organization. We look forward to seeing you in January!

Sincerely,

Josh Landreth

ATA Vice President