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The Great Lakes Equipment Managers Conference & Trade Show

The John Garlets Family
2025 Equipment Manager of the Year Dennis McVety
Thank You!
Dinner Sponsor	Award Sponsor
Hospitality Suite Sponsor	Breakfast Sponsor

The Equipment Manager Committee hosted the Great Lakes Equipment Managers Conference & Trade Show at Grand Traverse Resort in Acme Michigan on December 11th & 12th.

This was the third year of Equipment Manager education and networking but was the first as the reimagined Great Lakes Equipment Manager Conference & Trade Show which showed the ever growing goals of the committee and attendees for an elevated experience.

Day one kicked off with an optional Open House & Shop Tour at the Grand Traverse Resort Golf Maintenance Building at 9:30. Education kicked off at noon with Sprayer Maintenance & Calibration with Joe Etten from Reinders. At 2:00 John Patterson, CTEM the 2025 GCSAA Edward Budding Award winner from Atlanta Athletic Club spoke about his experience with autonomous mower maintenance. At 4:00 a presentation and discussion on turf equipment life cycle from John Garlets with Spartan Distributors was center stage. The day one education wrapped with GCSAA Equipment Manager Resources from Shane Conroy, our Great Lakes GCSAA Field Staff Representative. 

After the fantastic lineup of speakers and education but before the trade show, dinner, raffle & awards a surprise lifetime achievement award was presented to John Garlets for his many contributions to the entire industry. To help add to the surprise and moment Spartan Distributors arranged for many of John’s extended family to be in attendance. The surprise special guests were Zac, Lynette, Bonny, Tina, Thea, Blaze, Charity, Ben, Jeanne, Wolfe, Ruby, Dagny, Monroe, Sam & Wife Amy who joined us for dinner. 

After a fantastic dinner sponsored by Michigan Turf Equipment and visiting with our trade show vendors we were able to present the 2025 Equipment Manager of the Year Award to Dennis McVety from Meadowbrook C.C. Dennis was joined by his wife of 27 years, Janay along with Meadowbrook Superintendent and MiGCSA Board Member Jared Milner, Assistant Superintendents Hatner Berrios, Grant Kieft, Jack McCarthy & Anthony Schimento. Thank you to Target Specialty Products for sponsoring the Awards this year. 

Attendees were then able to participate in the Hospitality Suite sponsored by Spartan Distributors on the 15th floor of the Tower side of the hotel. 

The breakfast buffet sponsored by Youngs Turf Farm on Friday morning came quickly for many who had a fantastic evening with their fellow members. 

Mike Rollins from SIP closed the show with his ever evolving “Cut Line is King” presentation that is always jam packed with information and inspiration every attendee was able to take back and implement immediately. 

Thank you to our Industry Partners & Trade Show Vendors: EZGO, Golf Cars Plus, Harrell's, Ladd's, Revels, Schaeffer Lubricants, Simplot, Spartan Distributors, SynaTek & Timber Wolf Turf/Trimax for their support in making this event possible. 

Also special thanks to the Equipment Manager Committee chaired by Mith Hunt, CTEM, Vice Chair Ron McCall and committee members Ben Beard, Seth Sheldon & Hector Velazquez for their work to produce this fantastic event.