WCTA 61st Annual Conference in the Books
By Jerry Rousseau
March 6, 2025
After months of planning and organizing, the 61st Annual WCTA Conference and Trade Show, held February 11-13, 2025 at the River Rock Casino Resort in downtown Richmond, BC, is in the books.
WCTA2025 marked the 5th time our largest annual undertaking has been held at the River Rock and with the fastest ever trade-show sell-out (2 days), final attendance came in just 10 people short of our record-setting numbers two years ago at 527 total delegates.
With the unique show theatre, BC’s largest Casino, fantastic food and genuinely sincere staff, this venue never disappoints. Familiar surroundings welcomed us with the with the exception of the new ‘Gordon Ramsay Steak’, a first in Canada that replaced the Curve Lounge. If you’re looking for a great steak, it will be hard to find a better place than the River Rock!
Now that the dust has (mostly) settled, on behalf of the WCTA Board of Directors and Members, I would like to thank all those who helped make our event so successful including our speakers, Silent Auction contributors and bid winners, the production team and of course the following sponsors:
Here are the results:
• In total, 527 turf management industry personnel participated this year including 325 professional turf management delegates, 182 supplier and service provide personnel and 20 speakers.
• Our trade show sold out once again (in record time) and we had to expand the space. We squeezed 54 companies in 68 booths into the River Rock’s Show Theatre and Upper Foyer!
• Hotel pickups came in at 328 room nights, well over our 269 room block.
• Our 24th Annual Silent Auction raised $5,583! Thanks to all the contributors and bid winners for supporting and remember, this money is directed toward turf research projects that help support the turf management industry.
Quite a bit of post-production work remains and it will be a couple more weeks before final financial performance is determined but I can report gross revenue has set an all-time WCTA record. That said, we haven’t adjusted for inflation and obviously expenses have increased significantly in the past few years but overall, it was a very solid show and we’re extremely happy!
Why is this important? WCTA members need to know that a successful event helps drive the association financially, enabling education and networking opportunities, a variety of member services, providing funds for turf research that helps ensure our chances of a sustainable future, the ability to lobby government and advocate for our industry and much more. It is especially indicative of a strong and successful industry in the overall, something we’re happy to be part of.
Moving forward, our 62nd Annual Conference and Trade Show will take place February 10-12, 2026 at a yet-to-be-named location. An announcement is expected by end-March but if you’re guessing the River Rock in 2026, you’ve made a pretty safe bet😀. In the mean-time, here are few preliminary images from this year's show.
WCTA Finance Director Davin Marr (left) with KESO Turf's Kelly Watkins. Yes, only faces a mother could love😀!
Jason Steadwell from Syngenta, our conference title sponsor, brings greetings to a packed house.
Two keynotes for the price of one! Global sports personality suprised our delegates by co-hosting this year's keynote address in an interview style format with Vancouver Golf Tour creator, Fraser Mulholland.
Dr. Trey Rogers from Michigan State University returns with an update on the 2026 World Cup. Dr. John, 'Trey' Rogers is a crowd favorite and definitely a pleasure to work with.
Let's get this party started! Over 500 delegates and indusry supply/service personnel jammed the trade show floor.
Hail to the chiefs! Inbound WCTA President, Nathan Wade (right) presents outgoing President, Stu Carmichael, with a small token of our appreciation for his service to the association.
Wrapping things up is Terry Ormrod (left) from Toro Irrigation presenting the grand draw prize to Jeff Green from the City of Burnaby Golf Operations. First-off, 'Green' is a heckuva last name for a turfie😀. Second, this prize was going to be a very nice Toro brand push mower valued at $650 but due to some error in shipping, this is actually a very high end self-propelled mower worth about $2800 - too bad about that shipping screw-up Terry but congratulations to Jeff!