October 15, 2008
LO’s annual Snow and Ice Symposium continues to lead the popularity charts. This year’s event featured sold-out seminars, more exhibitors than ever and a huge number of positive comments from attendees.

The September 16 event attracted 24 exhibitors who displayed state-of-the-art equipment used to battle today’s snow and ice conditions. Exhibitors included Allstone Equipment, Battlefield Equipment Rentals, Crew Tracker Software, Dahmer Rough Terrain, G.C. Duke Equipment, SIMA, Twin Equipment, Wajax Industries, Advantage Products, Amaco Equipment/Snowdragon, Barrett Marketing/Snowex, Britech, Drive Products, Earth Innovations, Eastern Farm Machinery, HortProtect, Innovative Surface Solutions, Outdoor Supplies and Equipment, ParaMech Systems, Pinpoint GPS Solutions, Pro Fleet Care/Rustoil, Walco Equipment and Windmill Power Equipment.

The seminars were filled two weeks in advance. Event organizer Ken Tomihiro, LO’s conference coordinator, said the seminars were extremely popular.

One of the most popular presentations was by Rob Boggs, manager of commercial services for The Weather Network,  and Steve Everett, also with the Network. Other speakers included Bob Hodgins of Ecoplans; Leanne Lobe, supervisor of Source Water Protection for the Region of Waterloo, and manager of its Smart About Salt program; Darren Rodrigues, national program manager for Sinclair-Cockburn Insurance, the firm that administers HortProtect; John Vanderburgh of Dickey-John Controls, who spoke on salt management and calibration; and David Wisemer of Ecoplans, who spoke on advance weather information and salt management.

Ken Tomihiro said the LO Snow and Ice Commodity group thanks sponsors Twin Equipment, Allstone Equipment and Clintar.

The Snow and Ice Management Association (SIMA) held a board meeting at the LO offices during the symposium. Members of the SIMA board said they were knocked out by Landscape Ontario’s facility, organization, strength and professionalism.
“Considering how the joint co-operation with SIMA started, its first meeting in Canada really opened some eyes. As a result, SIMA’s annual symposium may head to Toronto in 2011,” said SIMA board secretary and LO member Robert Wilton.

Caption: A record number, 24 exhibitors, attended this year’s Snow and Ice Symposium at LO.