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PENNSYLVANIA TURFGRASS: Mike Fidanza, Ph.D.1 and John Pope 2
1 Professor of Plant and Soil Science, Penn State Berks Campus; Reading, PA (maf100@psu.edu)
2 Pope Soils Consulting and Counseling Services; Maple Glen, PA (overthefencegarden@gmail.com)

The Eastern Pennsylvania Turfgrass Conference and Tradeshow (i.e., “The Eastern”), first began as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Turf School, and was organized and conducted by William “Bill” White (1924-2011), Philadelphia County Agent with Penn State Cooperative Extension and Dr. Jack Harper (1923-2005), Penn State Turfgrass Extension Specialist (Table 1). Of note, these early years of The Eastern were part of a larger effort by many county agents in Southeastern Pennsylvania to bring the latest turfgrass science and research information from the land-grant university to turf managers as well as practicing horticulturalist and arborists, thus expanding the outreach into many segments of the green industry.

These first conferences or “turf schools” focused on education for those green industry professionals in the Philadelphia and greater Southeastern Pennsylvania region, and were held at the Jeffersonville Golf Club, in West Norriton, PA. As this annual educational event gained in success and popularity in the region, the conference expanded to include lawn, landscape, and grounds managers, and also an industry trade show where companies could display and promote their products and services. The conference was relocated in the early 1980s to the nearby Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA, to accommodate the need for more education and trade show space.

Also for two years during the early 1980s, The Eastern was combined with the Penn State Golf Turf Conference into one state-wide conference, and held at the Hershey Hotel, in Hershey, PA. The geographically diverse turf industry in Pennsylvania, however, wanted to return to the regional conference structure and format. Soon after that, five separate turf conferences were conducted in Pennsylvania: The Eastern, Penn State Golf Turf Conference (University Park, PA), Western Pennsylvania Turf Conference (Pittsburgh, PA region), Northeastern Turf Conference (Wilkes-Barre, PA region), and Northwestern Turf Conference (Meadville, PA). These conferences were hosted by Penn State Cooperative Extension and/or the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council.

During the mid-1980s and into the 1990s, The Eastern, was the turf conference to attend, as it had a broad, regional appeal and participation from many segments of the green industry. At that time, The Eastern was a precursor to the big regional conferences of today such as the New England Turf Conference (Providence, RI) and the Carolinas Turf Conference (Myrtle Beach, SC). For many years, The Eastern was held at the Valley Forge Convention Center, which is in close proximity to the famous Valley Forge National Park where General George Washington and the Continental Army over-wintered in 1777. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the trade show portion of those conferences occupied two floors of the convention center with expansive space for booths and equipment displays (Figures 1 and 2). The education talks were located on the opposite side of the facility in the hotel ballrooms, with capacity of 300 to 500 for each room.

The Eastern was traditionally held during the first week of January, basically a few days after New Year’s Day, and it was a great way to kick-off the new year for the turf industry. In the age before cell phones, websites, social media, and “early order season”, the trade show was the place to conduct business and network. Everyone who was anyone in the turf business was there: golf course, sports turf, lawn and landscape, grounds maintenance, equipment, chemicals, fertilizers, specialty products, and more. Because the education seminars were coordinated by the Penn State turf faculty and Penn State’s Cooperative Extension, The Eastern was one of the few places turfgrass industry professionals could earn an entire year’s worth application license credits as required by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA). Later in the 1990s, the PDA allowed turf companies (i.e., distributors and dealers) to offer pesticide credits for their own one-day education events organized for their customers.

A highlight of The Eastern during those “Valley Forge days” was the USGA Year-in-Review presented for many years by USGA Green Section agronomist Stan Zontek (1949-2012). Dr. Paul Heller (1948-2010), Penn State turf entomologist, was always a favorite speaker as well. Dr. Heller presented with such excitement, passion, and extension knowledge of all things turf-and-bugs related. In the early 2000s, a Silent Auction was added to the trade show to raise needed funds to support the Penn State turf program (Table 2). A favorite item for sale was the autographed football from Penn State’s legendary coach, Joe Paterno (Figure 3). Many companies generously donated products and services, and many golf course superintendents donated rounds of golf. The Silent Auction was an excellent example of an industry-university partnership.

From the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, The Eastern was a 2½ day conference. From 2011 to 2014, The Eastern was moved from the Valley Forge Convention Center across the street to a hotel next to the King of Prussia Mall, in King of Prussia, PA. The conference also downsized into two full days, and the traditional tradeshow booth layout was replaced with table-tops, along with lunch being served at the conference. From 2015 to 2017, The Eastern returned to the Valley Forge Convention Center, which was now renovated into the Valley Forge Casino Resort. In 2017, an Industry Committee within the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council was assembled to help strengthen and improve the conference and their fundraising efforts, and they even occupied a booth at the nearby Philadelphia Golf Show in Oaks, PA, to auction rounds of golf (Figure 4), thus promoting the Penn State turf program and raising much needed financial support at the same time.

In 2018, The Eastern was relocated to South-Central Pennsylvania, at the famous Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, PA, and restructured into a one-day conference with industry participation as well in the form of modified table-tops trade show. Also for 2018, the conference rebranded the name as: “Eastern Pennsylvania Golf, Lawn, Landscape and Sports Turf Conference.”

In 2024, The Eastern will be conducted for the 54th time. We are grateful for those forward-thinking pioneers that started The Eastern, for those that followed and nurtured it to grow and prosper, and to those today that volunteer, attend, and participate to make The Eastern a success! The diverse geography and population regions in Pennsylvania warrant the presentation of turfgrass conferences throughout the Commonwealth (Figure 5), and our turfgrass industry looks forward to more education and outreach in 2024!  
Table 1. Location and conference information for The Eastern for each year.

No. Year Location Conference Chairperson(s) Education Program
1 1971 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper

Penn State Cooperative Extension –
County Agents from
the Southeastern Pennsylvania region
2 1972 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
3 1973 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
4 1974 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
5 1975 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
6 1976 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
7 1977 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
8 1978 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
9 1979 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
10 1980 West Norriton, PA Bill White and Jack Harper
11 1981 Valley Forge, PA Jack Harper Jack Harper
12 1982 Valley Forge, PA Jack Harper Jack Harper
13 1983 Hershey, PA* Jack Harper Jack Harper
14 1984 Hershey, PA* Jack Harper Jack Harper
15 1985 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Tom Watschke
16 1986 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Tom Watschke
17 1987 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Tom Watschke
18 1988 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Tom Watschke
19 1989 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Tom Watschke
20 1990 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, Chuck Cadiz, Kenneth Dietrich Tom Watschke
21 1991 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, Kenneth Dietrich Pete Landschoot
22 1992 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Pete Landschoot
23 1993 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Pete Landschoot
24 1994 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Pete Landschoot
25 1995 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Pete Landschoot
26 1996 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Pete Landschoot
27 1997 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke Pete Landschoot
28 1998 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, Mike Smith Pete Landschoot
29 1999 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, Mike Smith Pete Landschoot
30 2000 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, Mike Smith, John Chassard Pete Landschoot
31 2001 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, John Chassard Pete Landschoot
32 2002 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, John Chassard Pete Landschoot
33 2003 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, John Chassard Pete Landschoot
34 2004 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, John Chassard, Greg Fantuzzi Pete Landschoot
35 2005 Valley Forge, PA Tom Watschke, Greg Fantuzzi Pete Landschoot
36 2006 Valley Forge, PA Greg Fantuzzi Pete Landschoot
37 2007 Valley Forge, PA Greg Fantuzzi Pete Landschoot
38 2008 Valley Forge, PA Greg Fantuzzi Pete Landschoot
39 2009 Valley Forge, PA Greg Fantuzzi Max Schlossberg
40 2010 Valley Forge, PA Greg Fantuzzi and Andrew Dooley Mike Fidanza
41 2011 King of Prussia, PA Andrew Dooley Mike Fidanza
42 2012 King of Prussia, PA Andrew Dooley Mike Fidanza
43 2013 King of Prussia, PA Andrew Dooley Mike Fidanza
44 2014 King of Prussia, PA Andrew Dooley Mike Fidanza
45 2015 Valley Forge, PA Andrew Dooley Mike Fidanza
46 2016 Valley Forge, PA Tom Bettle Mike Fidanza
47 2017 Valley Forge, PA Tom Bettle Jeff Borger
48 2018 East Earl, PA** Dan Douglas Jeff Borger
49 2019 East Earl, PA Dan Douglas Brad Jukabowski
50 2020 East Earl, PA Dan Douglas Brad Jukabowski
51 2021 Virtual*** Dan Douglas Brad Jukabowski
52 2022 East Earl, PA Dan Douglas Dan Douglas
53 2023 East Earl, PA Dan Douglas Dan Douglas
54 2024 East Earl, PA Dan Douglas Dan Douglas
*One state-wide turf conference (The Eastern and the Western PA Turf Conference and Penn State Golf Turf Conference).
**Shady Maple Smorgasbord in Lancaster County PA
***Virtual or online format due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Table 2. Silent auction committee for The Eastern.

Year Committee Members
Location = The Eastern:
2004 Jim and Karen Loke*
2005 Jim and Karen Loke
2006 Jim and Karen Loke
2007 Mike Fidanza, Mark DelSantro, Tony Leonard, Jim Byrne
2008 Mike Fidanza, Mark DelSantro, Tony Leonard, Jim Byrne**
2009 Mike Fidanza, Mark DelSantro, Tony Leonard, Jim Byrne
2010 Dave Huff
2011 Dave Huff
2012 Scott Kroll and Tyler Bloom
2013 Scott Kroll and Tyler Bloom
2014 Damon DiGiorgio and Carey Bailey
2015 Damon DiGiorgio and Carey Bailey
2016 Tom Valentine
2017 Tom Valentine
Location = Philadelphia Golf Show (Oaks, PA):
2018 Andrew Dooley and Tom Valentine
2019 Andrew Dooley and Tom Valentine
2020 Andrew Dooley and Tom Valentine***
*Initiated in 2004.
**Record amount raised of $21,000.
**Discontinued after 2020.