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LANDSCAPE ONTARIO
CONGRESS KICKS-OFF
A NEW DECADE
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embers of the landscape and horticulture profession gathered at the Toronto Congress Centre, Jan. 7-9, 2020 to kick off a new year and a new decade at Congress 2020 – Canada’s Green Industry Show and Conference. Produced by Landscape Ontario, the 47th edition of Congress featured over 600 exhibitors, dozens of seminars, fun, after hours events, plus a full-day of education the day before the trade show. Add in new products, the association’s awards night and its annual general meeting, and Congress truly is a homecoming for the profession. Landscape Ontario Show Manager, Heather MacRae says many positive changes were made for this year’s event. MacRae says the association’s 2019 theme of renewal actually carried through to Congress 2020, even though it was not specifically planned out that way. “This was the first Congress of a new decade and volunteers on the Landscape Ontario Show Committee have been working closely with staff to bring new ideas and new experiences to Congress even more so over the last couple of years. The result was really noticeable this year, with a refreshed and renewed show.” MacRae says one the biggest changes this year was a number of show features added to Hall F. These included
axe-throwing, the Patio Lounge, an Ale Trail station, the Landscape Ontario job board, free WiFi and a phone charging station. “We really should have called it Hall Fun,” MacRae says. The new features were added to complement the existing Hardscape LIVE stage and Canada Blooms Campus student gardens already in that area of the show.
STUDENT GARDENS
LO’s Show Committee, staff and exhibitors began setup of the massive exposition the Friday before, on Jan. 3. They were joined by dozens of landscaping and horticulture students from four Ontario post-secondary institutions. Durham College, Fanshawe College, Humber College and Niagara Parks School of Horticulture all built feature gardens at the show. Showcasing the skill and talent of future members of the profession, the student gardens make up the Canada Blooms Campus. Building the feature gardens gives students some great hands-on experience, part of which is a firm completion deadline imposed by LO Show Committee member and student garden coordinator, Brian Cocks. Leonardo Guilherme, a second-year student at Humber College, said he “learned a lot about team cooperation,” in putting
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together the garden. “I think it’s amazing how we put this together in only two days and I think we had a really ambitious design.” Guilderme says some of the conceptual parts of the design had to be worked out on site — just like in the real world. Over 600 exhibitors are accessible under one roof at Congress, offering everything from robotic mowers to nursery stock to engineered soil to natural stone. Jim Philip, operations manager at Wentworth Landscapes in Picton, Ont., was able to purchase some new tools and save some money. “We bought two zip levels. We started using them about four years ago and our crews love them. I only get to see the owner at Congress and he had a good show deal. We saved $200 per zip level,” Philip said. “There’s always a certain group of suppliers we only ever get to see here, so we try to meet them to talk about how things are going, and we are here checking out the latest, greatest and cutting edge stuff.”
SURVEY RESULTS
Philip is not alone in his desire to see the latest and greatest at Congress. Year after year, attendee surveys, like the one conducted after this year’s show, indicate that Congress is the place to see what’s new.
