6 minute read
iLandscape Celebrates 10 Years
FUN - PRIZES - ENTERTAINMENT
by Meta Levin With a carnival atmo-
sphere, the 10th annual iLandscape show — Games in the Gardens, will kick off Tuesday, January 31, 2023 with pre-show in depth workshops and an awards banquet, and continue through Friday, February 3, 2023 with educational offerings, networking, fun and games.
Attendees can stroll the sold-out exhibit halls, attend education sessions, taught by some of the top people in the industry, stop in the gardens for a rest, networking or to play miniature golf, ring toss or any of several other games. “Our goal is to put on a great show for the attendees and the exhibitors,” says Mike Wesley, iLandscape Experience Co-Chair. iLandscape will be held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL. Vendors and participants alike are eager to get back in the swing of things after more than two years of Pandemic restrictions.
In addition to the “Games in the Gardens,” there will be raffles, plenty of opportunities for networking and meeting with vendors.
“We’re celebrating our 10-year anniversary, so we’re having one big party,” says Wesley, who also is general manager at Illinois Landscape Supply. “We are super excited.” (continued on page 20)
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The popular raffles will be expanded from once a day to twice daily – just before lunch and before the exhibit halls close. The Wednesday evening party has been transformed into a Trivia Night, complete with prizes and Thursday evening will be a big garden party, with games, prizes and carnival food.
Trivia Night will feature beer and snacks. Attendees can compete in the trivia games both on a large screen in the main hall or, if they prefer, via an app, says Tina Scanlan-Turner, who heads the Trivia Night committee. “We anticipate we will have a lot of people there,” she says.
The competition will consist of three to four rounds with $50 to $100 prizes each, followed by one Super Round with $250 and $500 winners. Brain Bash Trivia’s Jeremy Cahnmann, who Scanlan-Turner describes as a “wild and crazy guy,” will run the Trivia Night, which will be interactive, giving attendees more opportunities for fun and casual networking. “It is a nice time to come together and see other people in the industry,” she says.
The Design Committee, helmed by Chris Walsh, Topiarius’ executive vice president, has planned interactive garden spaces, meant to encourage attendees to stroll around, as if on a boardwalk. All are color coordinated in a joyful carnival palette of yellows, reds, blues and similar colors. Signs are written in carnival and circus fonts. As people enter the main exhibit hall, they will see photo cut-outs, depicting circus acrobats, perfect for taking selfies or pictures with friends. As attendees go from garden to garden, they will find four miniature putting greens in the Big Garden, areas to play bags and other games in other places, as well as tables and chairs for relaxation and conversation. The ILCA/WNLA membership booth will be decked out like a golf course clubhouse. In fact, the big raffle prize is a $12,000 electric, high tech golf cart, which, of course, will be on display.
Katrina House, general manager at Xylem, Ltd. arranged for the donation of 10 yards of sand and two tons of boulders to transform the Garden Stage into a beach scene, complete with Adirondack chairs and fire pits, so that attendees can sit back and rest. “We’re hoping people will kick off their shoes,”says Walsh.
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To encourage relaxation, at various places in the gardens, there will be opportunities for fun, including ring toss, checkers and a “slew of other games,” he says. The gardens will showcase some of the larger prizes, including the golf cart, awards, posters and even burrito bowl stations.
The Strolling Garden will be lined with photographs of the Excellence in Landscape award winners, benches, the big raffle prizes, including the golf cart and electric bicycle, plantings and lights.
Throughout there will be sculptures, containers and other design objects. In other areas there will be places to sit and talk with each other or chat with vendors.
All the gardens do not magically appear on Wednesday morning. Walsh estimates that there will be five design operation supervisors, 25 crew leaders and staff, as well as volunteers working Monday and Tuesday so that, “by Wednesday morning the only thing left to do is water the plants,” he says. On Friday afternoon, only 30 people will be needed to dismantle everything.
Once again John Algozzini is heading the prizes and raffles committee, with a lineup that is expected to give away nearly $50,000 in prizes (including cash) to contest and raffle winners through Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s events.
Those who want to compete in the ring toss, Bozo buckets and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head building during the day on Wednesday and Thursday, are eligible for cash prizes. The Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head contest will use real potatoes on which contestants use their creativity with everything from the traditional Potato Head parts to googlie eyes, yarns, feathers and glitter.
Other prizes include a weekend getaway, mountain bike, artwork, a 60-inch TV, the electric golf cart, sculpture, electric bike, portable bar, garden spikes, golf putter, garden containers and others. On Thursday evening there will be a total of $10,000 in cash prizes for the “Minute to Win-It” games: bags, Bingo, miniature golf, ring toss and Bozo buckets. There also will be free food and beer.
You know those volunteers holding “Ask Me” signs? Well, they’re being replaced by information booths, says Jennifer Fick, Hospitality Chair and vice president of Wilson Nurseries. Her committee has done some other streamlining.
Largely operating behind the scenes, Fick and her committee are tasked with helping guide, answering questions and otherwise ensuring that vendors can set up and take down their booths smoothly and within the rules of the venue. Last year the committee started an exhibitor hotline, allowing vendors to text questions and get answers for the week before and continuing through the show. “It was successful,” Fick says. So, it will be repeated this year.
They also think ahead. By the time vendors arrive on Friday, the show’s last day, there are information packets for next year’s iLandscape in their booths.
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