Vice President’s Letter

We can’t wait to see each of you in Hot Springs in January!

I love fall! I’m not like those weird people that can’t wait to have pumpkin tasting coffee and stuff like that. But…I do enjoy the cool mornings, the foliage, and other old people stuff. Our family loves the outdoors, and fall provides such an awesome opportunity to experience the great state we live in. We love fishing, hiking, outdoor sports, and a good campfire. It’s hard to beat S’mores in October! Although it may be tough to grow grass in Arkansas, that seasonality sure does create a lot of beauty. Make sure you take time this fall to enjoy whatever it is you enjoy. You deserve it. You need it. Take advantage of the resources our beautiful state has to offer.

We hope that you are marking your calendars for the 2025 Arkansas Turfgrass Association annual conference on January 16th and 17th in Hot Springs. The ATA exists to “Bring opportunity and resources to the turfgrass industry of Arkansas.” We hope to provide much more than just recertification credits. We hope to provide opportunities to engage with your fellow professionals, to get support in areas we all need it, to network, to provide educational opportunities that are exciting and new, to help our industry grow as professionals. Our best avenue of providing those opportunities is the annual conference. We need your support to grow this conference so that we can provide opportunities every year.

The Baggo tournament was a huge hit in 2024, and we plan to expand on some of the social dynamic to the conference. Dr. Wendell Hutchens is now helping the ATA with our educational program. He already has commitments from several awesome speakers. We are very excited about bringing a program to our members that is not just educational, but also relatable. Dr. Hutchens is amazing, and we are so thankful for his work on all this.

A couple of things we wanted to make sure you are aware of in regards to the coming conference. The Embassy is currently under construction, and we were not able to reserve a room block. They may have rooms available by then, but we don’t know. If you want to stay there, I’d recommend booking sooner than later. We do have a block of rooms at Hotel Hot Springs, and I’m sure Courtney will make the information available on that.

We’re also excited to be able to award 2 scholarships at next year’s conference. What an awesome opportunity. Thank you to our sponsors, vendors, and all of our members. Your support has helped make that possible. It’s great to be involved with an organization that truly cares about the future of their industry. Let’s keep it up!

We can’t wait to see each of you in Hot Springs in January.

Sincerely,

Josh Landreth

ATA Vice President

Register for the conference and reserve a room at Hotel Hot Springs on the ATA website: arkansasturf.net