Maintenance Seminar 2014 Recap

February 5th, 2014 was our annual Maintenance Seminar, one of our most popular events! This year it was held at the brand new, beautiful Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Avondale, AZ. Thank you to Ronda Berkey, Lee Garrett, Mike Darus and the rest of the cemetery/mortuary staff for being such gracious hosts. We very much enjoyed being at your facilities.

This year’s program included the following speakers:

“How Low Can You Go” –  Tony Garcia, GARCIA’S Nationwide Lowering Device Service, LLC
“OPM Laws: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” – Vince Craig, Arizona Department of Agriculture Office of Pest Management
“Whodunnit – A Safety Mystery Game” – Mike Darus
Save Your Own Asphalt” – Jared Jones, Cholla Pavement
“Smart Water Management” – Dean Pacich, Account Manager & Eden VanBuren, Regional Irrigation Advisor

Thank you again to all of our speakers this year, we appreciate you sharing your information!

Thank you to our Vendors and Sponsors!

Aircomm – Vendor
PSM2 – Bronze Sponsor
Dignity Memorial – Bronze Sponsor
Smart Card Services, LLC – Bronze Sponsor
Granite Resources/Phoenix Bronze Resources – Vendor & Bronze Sponsor
TMC Landscape and Nursery LLC – Vendor & Bronze Sponsor
GARCIA’S Nationwide Lowering Device Service, LLC  – Vendor & Bronze Sponsor
ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance – Vendor & Gold Sponsor
Cold Spring Granite – Vendor & Gold Sponsor
A-Z Equipment Rentals – Vendor & Gold Sponsor
Cholla Pavement – Vendor & Gold Sponsor
Mickelson & Ray – Vendor & Gold Sponsor

As usual, the Backhoe Rodeo was a fun time to show off your backhoe handling skills. Congratulations to our winners: 1st Place – Henry Garcia, 2nd Place – Daniel Valladares, 3rd Place – Julian Virgen. Each winner took home a cash prize!

The invention competition had some really great concepts this year. Paul Cannisales’ tree trimmer lifting device was innovative and practical. He one first place for his efforts. Zeke Rodriguez came equipped with two tools he made to help make cleaning sprinkler heads and removing brass cylinder covers for memorial boulders easier.

Lunch was provided by Creations in Cuisine Catering, and they served up a delicious southwest meatloaf and sweet potato meal that we didn’t hear any complaints about. There were no leftovers this year!

Thank you again to all who attended, spoke, sponsored and worked so hard to make this event a success. We will see you again next year!