Ready to go
Cam St. Jean, owner, Kootenay Lawn Doctor
It is possible that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it also sure seems like the industry is ready for the 2021 GIE+EXPO show to go on. Cam St. Jean, owner of Kootenay Lawn Doctor in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, is hopeful to attend the show, even though travel through an international border has become complex since the pandemic.
“If you’re looking for equipment, if you’re looking for software or you’re looking for strategy, it’s all there,” St. Jean says. “There’s just new ideas all around that if you can implement them into your company, you’ll get a great return on investment.”
Kootenay Lawn Doctor employs 30 people and operates 18 trucks. A majority of the business (75 percent) is spraying liquid herbicide and fertilizer, while 20 percent is mowing/aerating and 5 percent is irrigation/miscellaneous.
Formal meetings and education sessions are great, St. Jean says, but the greater value is being around peers who can trade ideas with each other. Other than looking for equipment, the trips to Louisville give him a chance to visit Fourth Street Live! and drink some bourbon. As a fan of Kentucky’s signature liquor, that’s a highlight of his trip.
“I like touring the distilleries. We got out to a bunch of them in 2019,” St. Jean laughs.
Here’s a cheers to getting back in 2021.
Looking forward to Louisville
While he expects to stick with his Wright zero-turns for many years to come, Nick Brummel, owner of Brummel Lawn and Landscape in Kansas City, is excited to see what’s next from manufacturers. He’s been paying attention to electric models and has seen videos of autonomous mowers, something he hopes to see at GIE+EXPO this year. There’s not a lot of demand for electric-only mowing in Kansas City right now, he says, but he’s watching the market.
“What’s going on on the West Coast has gotten our attention,” Brummel says. “The push is coming, so we’re looking into the sustainability of batteries. Can they last?”
