Approximately $100,000 was raised to support the Industry Growth Initiative through an auction and additional fundraising at Landscapes 2018 in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 16-19, according to the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP).

The auction was hosted by Marty Grunder of Grunder Landscaping Co. and Frank Mariani of Mariani Landscape.

Landscapes and the GIE+EXPO trade show started a day earlier, on Tuesday, and ran through Friday. New educational offerings contributed to a 7 percent increase in conference attendees with nearly 100 technicians attending the first hands-on technical training workshops.

“It was an incredible week,” said Sabeena Hickman, NALP CEO. “We were pleased to welcome so many new faces to the conference, with an increase of 54 percent more first-time attendees than last year. We had great feedback on the new schedule, the joint keynote address, as well as the education sessions, which were targeted at everyone from CEOs to technicians.”

Additionally, during its annual awards reception, NALP recognized 161 Awards of Excellence winners, honoring outstanding landscape maintenance, design/build, lawn care and interiorscape projects. View a complete list of winners here.

From the 47 Grand award-winning projects, two projects were selected to receive the highest honor—a Judges’ Award. Designs by Sundown of Littleton, Colo., received a Judges’ Award for its Tazi Ranch project in the $100,000-$500,000 budget category, and Mariani Landscape of Lake Bluff Illinois won a Judges’ Award is for its Terrace with a View project in the $100,000-$ 500,000 budget category.

Award entries for next year will be accepted beginning in late spring 2019. Landscapes 2019 will be held in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 15-18.

The awards dinner was sponsored by Caterpillar, and Landscapes 2018 was sponsored by John Deere (platinum), Caterpillar (gold) and Bayer (silver).