Now in its seventh year, the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational continues to be the event to attend when you want to relax, network, play golf, make business contacts and have a good time.
A can鈥檛 miss event is coming! Now entering it鈥檚 seventh year of entertaining, networking, golfing and providing a great atmosphere for people to gather and socialize, the annual Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational, being held from April 26 鈥� 28 at the Blackwater Saloon and Pechanga Resort & Casino鈥檚 fabulous 鈥淛ourney鈥� golf course in Temecula, CA, offers attendees the chance to see old friends, meet new partners, take advantage of new opportunities and more.聽
Opening Night Party
Started by Kerry Holmes, Vice President of Sales and Mike Melideo, President and CEO of Consolidated Fabricators and Ray Burke, Vice President of Clean Energy, the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational has grown by leaps and bounds since the event first debuted in 2010, from a west-coast attended event to a national highlight of the year. Registration is filling up faster this year than any year previously and Holmes expects to have well more than a record-breaking 300 attendees over the event鈥檚 three days. 鈥淢any people come to the opening night party at Cole Burr鈥檚 Blackwater Saloon, which is hosted by Burrtec Waste Industries. It is a spectacular western town that he built on his property that includes a theater, live entertainment, a game room, a bar, kitchen, barbershop and more. More than 300 people will attend the opening night party, stay the night and have meetings with other people while they are there and head out of town while others will stay for the golf tournament.鈥�
Premier sponsors for this year鈥檚 event are Amrep, Inc. and Rehrig Pacific, both companies that have developed as nationwide industry leaders for their product lines. Amrep, providing front and side loaders, roll-offs and trailers, has specifically experienced tremendous national growth in the last three years while Rehrig Pacific has to become a world leading container manufacturer, asset tracking and RFID and bar code integration.
New and Returning Attendees
鈥淲hen we started this seven years ago, it was 90 percent west coast companies and today we have companies from all over the U.S.鈥擬innesota, New York, Florida, etc. It鈥檚 still heavily attended on the west coast because of the location, but now it is about 60/40; it鈥檚 become more of a national event. Even many of the vendors that we鈥檝e selected are a mix of national vendors and regional vendors. In the beginning, it wasn鈥檛 like that,鈥� says Burke. He credits the growth of the event to word of mouth and the relationship that he, Melideo and Holmes have with the people in the industry. 鈥淐EOs, vice presidents, senior management鈥攚e really now do have the full attendance of the U.S. Once these decision makers attend, they think it鈥檚 a great event. We get complimented every year that it is first class and it鈥檚 well done. Some of the larger companies attend because they are looking for growth opportunities, mergers and acquisitions.鈥�
In fact, Holmes and Burke point out that due to recent many changes and consolidations in the industry that although this event started as a networking event to help their friends in the industry, there are people without jobs right now (as a result of the consolidations) that are coming to the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational to network. 鈥淭here are a few events every year where people are always trying to seek employment鈥攖he Waste Expo, the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational and the Armenian Christmas Party that has been going on for 30 years and is held out here in the west where main CEOs of the industry attend,鈥� says Burke. 鈥淥ut of the similar people that go to this Christmas party, they also come to our event鈥攊t鈥檚 the who鈥檚 who of the industry. This year, there will be people looking for work and this is the perfect place to meet and network,鈥� says Burke.
As the event has grown, Holmes and Burke work on filtering out non-decision makers so most of the people that are attending are decision makers in terms of how they manage their organization鈥檚 markets鈥攖he market area people, district mangers, all the way up to the CEOs. 鈥淚t is almost 80 percent owners and executives,鈥� says Holmes. There also continues to be 70 percent industry hauler companies and 30 percent vendors, with one vendor for every category.
鈥淭his year we have been able to track the amount of golfers as well,鈥� says Burke. 鈥淚 will block out about eight to 10 people knowing that some senior management people will register a bit later and we want to make sure that we have room for them.鈥�
Again this year, Sharon Kneiss from the National Waste and Recycling Association will be in attendance as well as new sponsor, the California Refuse Recycling Council Southern District (CRRC). Holmes says, 鈥淭hey鈥檝e always attended, but the leadership now wanted to contribute to the cause so that is a great sign.鈥�
Burke agrees, 鈥淭his thing spread across the country. Look at what happened this year鈥� Sharon Kneiss is coming again and CRRC is now a sponsor. These people are coming to us; we are not asking. We are gaining such momentum that people want to be part of this.鈥�
Wednesday Highlights
Wednesday, April 27, kicks off the golf tournament and fun. The event sponsors now have booths that they set up on holes on the golf course and there are many different unique games played throughout the day like chipping into trash cans, a trash throw where golfers have to throw little bags of trash into a trash can about five to 10 yards away and more. Rush Peterbilt (the largest Peterbilt dealer in the U.S) also does a $100,000 hole in one every year.
Burke is in charge of putting the golf tournament together and in order to make sure that the same winners don鈥檛 win every year, he ranks the players into four categories, A to D, with A being the best and D being the worst. He tries to neutralize the teams, while ensuring that he doesn鈥檛 put market competitors together. 鈥淚 know who鈥檚 who and who they work for, so I work on putting a good mix of players together. Some will ask to play with a particular person and I try to neutralize where the handicaps are鈥攊t is pretty balanced. I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e had the same people winning since we鈥檝e moved to this system.鈥� There are three flights which result in three first-place winners and this year, the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational is giving away custom club tour golf bags鈥攖he actual bags that all the PGA players use. In addition, all the vendors usually have something that they hand out (balls, shirts, etc) at every hole.
Wednesday evening, the awards dinner is held where the winners are announced and the prizes are given out. 鈥淚t is a great environment鈥攅veryone is coming off of a great day on the golf course. Typically the weather is fantastic and the cocktail party is fantastic,鈥� says Holmes. The nice thing is that the cocktail party and dinner is in a room called the Eagle鈥檚 Nest. It is on the top floor of the hotel where there is spectacular views and an outdoor area where people can go outside. It really provides a great atmosphere for people to network.鈥�
The Environmental Research and Educational Foundation (EREF) is also given the year鈥檚 charity donation at the dinner. Last year, $10,900 was given to EREF and Holmes says the goal for this year鈥檚 event is $15,000 and he believes they will reach it. In addition, the EREF has announced the creation of a scholarship for Master鈥檚 students, which will be funded by donations from the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational and will be awarded every year at the event. This year, the EREF is bringing a scholarship recipient to the event鈥檚 dinner in order to talk about their experience and why it is important. Holmes felt strongly that there should be an element of 鈥済iving back鈥� to the industry. 鈥淎s the leader in solid waste research and education, EREF was an easy choice as the charity to benefit from the event,鈥� he says. 鈥淓REF, with its presence throughout North America, is well aligned with the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational鈥檚 goal to attract more industry leaders throughout the United States and Canada.鈥�
Thursday Golf
Always offering two days of golf, the Thursday round usually hosts 120 to 130 golfers and the vendors get to play and set up groups with some of their key customers. 鈥淭he course associated with the Pechanga Casino is incredible. It is well maintained and very pretty鈥攑eople love it,鈥� says Burke. 鈥淭he first day we do a scramble where everyone will just go to the best shot and it keeps pace of play moving. It is more of a networking, social atmosphere where you can spend time on the tee and talk to the vendors. The scramble format allows everyone to keep the pace of play going because you鈥檙e always going to the best shot of the group. The second day they can do whatever they want, they can play the same thing, they can play with their own ball, there are different formats they can do and we have very good turnout.鈥�
Area Tourism
When people are not playing golf or want an alternative option to the day鈥檚 events, the surrounding area, Temecula, has a fabulous wine country and all new hotels. 鈥淎 lot of people who come out will spend the week and go down to San Diego, up to Disneyland or they go into wine country, which is very popular. There are some first class wineries in Temecula and it is usually booked on the weekends,鈥� says Holmes. Not only that, but Pechanga Casino offers gambling, spa services, a comedy club, cabaret lounge and many different entertainment events for attendees to enjoy.
Burke and Holmes are proud of how the Garbageman鈥檚 Invitational has grown. 鈥淲e get so many compliments on it; people say it is the best event they attend every year. It鈥檚 nice to hear that since it鈥檚 a lot of work for us to make it the best event it can be,鈥� says Burke. 鈥淜erry handles all of the marketing and prizes, the budget, bills, etc. I manage the golf side of it and try to get the right customers and vendors there as well as the right people to the event. It is totally worth it.鈥� | WA
For more information, contact Kerry A. Holmes at [email protected] or visit www.garbagemansinvitational.com.