April 15, 2008
The Ottawa Chapter is pleased to report another great industry event, GreenTrade Expo 2008.

The show took place at Lansdowne Park on Feb. 13th. It featured industry products and services, generous sponsors and a targeted attendance of green industry and construction professionals.

Although snow made morning attendance lighter than usual, by noon the show was hopping with industry professionals looking for products and services for their business. This year’s show had more new products than ever. To get in touch with any of the exhibitors, visit www.greentrade.ca to view the exhibitors’ list and connect to their websites.

GreenTrade Expo is an important networking event for people in eastern Ontario. Visitors enjoyed the exhibits, taking time to visit with old friends and make new industry contacts. All were grateful for the generous lunch put on by our sponsors, B & T MacFarlane, Carriere and Poirier Equipment, Connon Nurseries/ NVK Holdings, Donnelly Automotive Group, HortProtect Insurance, Manotick Tree Movers, Petersen’s Turf Farms and Yates Custom Lawn Sprinklers.

This year’s show had a record-breaking number of education sessions. Donald Cooper presented two amazing business sessions (see below). Renee Graton of RG Integration presented a morning session on the LEED building system and how to make it profitable for landscape businesses. In an energetic afternoon session, Paul Zammit of Plant World packed the room as he spoke about using container gardening in all four seasons. We thank Permacon Group for the sponsorship of the seminar area.

Always a hit, visitors flocked to the complimentary coffee bar sponsored by Twin Equipment. Another must-stop area for show visitors was the MTO booth. Available all day, MTO officials fielded questions on all topics that green industry professionals need to know. They even had weigh-scales on hand to demonstrate and explain what landscapers could encounter on the road.

The Ottawa Chapter thanks all the sponsors named above, as well as Greely Sand and Gravel, sponsors of the show guide, and Manderley Turf Products, sponsors of the show carry-bag. Everyone’s support of GreenTrade Expo and the industry in this region is much appreciated.

And finally, we are proud to announce the dates for next year’s show: Wed., Feb. 18, 2009. The show will again be held at the Ottawa Civic Centre. We are committed to the educational component of GreenTrade Expo. Speakers will be announced in the fall. For more details, watch www.greentrade.ca

Caption: Show attendees learn about new products offered by the various exhibitors.