Recent Event

Awards Meeting a Success!

NESTMA Awards Meeting and Lunch at the NERTC in Providence was a great success! More than 100 members attended to reconnect with friends, celebrate colleagues, and hear about plans that will continue to move the association and the industry forward.

Executive Director, Virginia Wood, gave a rundown of recent NESTMA activities. The list of accomplishments included online learning, communications and connections, Fall Turf Day, scholarships, research support, and most notably, the release of Best Management Practices for Sports Field Managers in New England. Every member at the meeting received their own copy of this valuable publication. Vickie Wallace and the many members who helped to produce the new BMPs were applauded for this extraordinary effort.

Virginia also called out the hard-working members of the NESTMA board of the directors, who do a great job steering the NESTMA ship, and Commercial Partners were recognized for their steadfast support of the association.

Tom Irwin, Inc. received a special thank you for their exclusive sponsorship of NESTMA’s Awards Meeting and Lunch.

Congratulations to 2023 Sports Turf Manager of the Year, Ed Olsen of the Town of Needham, MA, and Commercial Partner of the Year Ed Downing of Read Custom Soils. •

Art Goodhind presents Ed Olsen with the Sports Turf Manager of the Year Award.

2023 Board of Directors (l-r): Ian Lacy, Scott Lagana, Tom Barry, CSFM, Adam Ferrucci, Art Goodhind, Brendon Connor, Ryan Bjorn, Andrew Carlise, CGM, Ben Polimer (missing: Chris McGinty).

Commercial Partner of the Year, Ed Downing (center) with his Read Custom Soils colleagues.

Ryan Bjorn presents Jack Collins, incoming UMass freshman, with NESTMA’s $1000 scholarship. UMass turfgrass major Ryan Malloy (who was not able to attend) also received a $1000 scholarship.

Vickie Wallace, Chris McGinty and Art Goodhind celebrate the release of new BMPs for New England.