Arkansas Turfgrass Conference Recap

The Arkansas Turfgrass Conference was a great success! Held January 10th and 11th in Hot Springs, the conference offered a great variety of education sessions, as well as a trade show and awards ceremony. We’d like to offer a special thanks to our sponsors, board members and attendees for making it one to remember!

Charlie Bowen, Mark Mowrey and Pat Berger were named Emeritus Directors. Their contributions and commitment to ATA over the years has been integral to our success as an association!

Your ATA 2019 Board: Back Row, Left to Right: Charlie Bowen, Steve Ibbotson, Dr. Doug Karcher, Mark Mowrey, Jeff Haskins, Bill Tippit, Rodney Fisher, Mark Brown. Front Row: Pat Berger, Kyle Sanders, Richard Covert, Mary Beth Rogers.

P&K Equipment’s (Stillwater, Oklahoma) trade show display.

Ryan Fisher and Rodney Fisher, both of Agra Turf, working the Trade Show.

2018 Arkansas Turfgrass Association Awards

ATA Field of the Year

ATA Field of the Year: Springdale Parks and Recreation for the Cal Ripken Fields located at the Randall Tyson Park in Springdale, Arkansas. Pictured, Left to Right: Zach Walls, Chris Gibson and Chad Wolf of Springdale Parks and Recreation

The complex was built in 1990 and has hosted countless practices, games, tournaments and showcases. Three years ago, they established a field crew that is solely responsible for all work conducted on the sport fields. They currently have five full-time personnel that maintain the athletic fields on a daily basis. This crew manages and maintains all 34 athletic fields in the City of Springdale Parks Department. (This complex is operational from March 1st to November 1st. It is home to their Cal Ripken youth baseball program in the spring and fall. They also host some of the largest youth baseball tournaments in the state. Thirteen USSSA tournaments were held at this complex between March and October with multiple tournaments of 150 teams or more. They believe the Cal Ripken Sports Complex in Tyson Park is the best in the state because of the high standard of care, attention to detail and maintenance program set by the field crew. With these practices in place, the overall appearance of the complex and playability of the fields continue to improve even after 28 years of use.

ATA Turf Site of the Year

ATA Turf Site of the Year: Ace of Blades for Cross Church Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Arkansas. Pictured: Josh Landreth, Owner of Ace of Blades

Ace of Blades, LLC was established in 2005 by Josh Landreth with the goal of providing the home and business owners of Northwest Arkansas more professional lawn care service than what was available at the time. Thanks to their valued customers, Josh believes that they are succeeding in that goal. Ace of Blades is locally owned and operated and takes pride in providing services that actually BENEFIT their customers. They like to develop relationships with their customers and truly want to be there for their needs. Josh has a Masters degree in Horticulture from the University of Arkansas.

Josh says that he is grateful to the customers that have chosen Ace of Blades as their lawn care provider. “I am blessed with the best group of customers that I could ask for, and I hope that each of you know that I am truly appreciative. The joy of my work is not the labor, but the opportunity to work with so many wonderful people. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.” This is the 3rd time that Ace of Blades has been awarded the ATA Turf Site of the Year.

ATA Arkansas High School Field of the Year

ATA Arkansas High School Field of the Year: Shane Fullerton for Harding Academy High School Baseball Field in Searcy, Arkansas. Pictured: Shane Fullerton of Harding Academy

Shane Fullerton is the head baseball coach and is also in charge of the maintenance of the baseball field at Harding Academy. He has been in charge of it since the fall of 2010 when he accepted the head baseball coach position. The field has existed since 2005. Shane and assistant coach Alex Smith work daily on the field. They conservatively estimate that over 500 man-hours go into the maintenance of the field per year. The field hosts around 15-20 home baseball games per year, varsity and junior varsity. It is also often chosen to host conference, regional and state baseball tournaments. They have been chosen to host the region tournament both of the last two seasons and four times in his eight years there. They have also hosted their conference tournament seven of those eight years.

They also host 100+ players each year for Baseball Crosstraining. This is an intense 7-day camp for young players from all over our state and surrounding states. The camp is always full, and the field is a great motivator for the campers. The Arkansas High School Baseball Coaches Association last gave an award for “Field of the Year” in 2012, which this field recieved. Shane said, “The thing that makes our field so special is the daily care during the spring that is administered to it by our high school players. They each have a job that they perform daily for the last 15 minutes of practice to make sure that our field is in top playing condition.” Shane and his teams have been fortunate enough to win three state championships in his eight years, and he truly believes that the pride that the kids take in their field is a factor in their overall high expectations for how they conduct themselves and represent the school. “This pride, work ethic, and attention to detail is something that we are proud of and, we believe, will serve them for years to come.”