Last Saturday, we had the incredible experience of hosting the first Pacific Northwest Regional Qualifier for the Hardscape North America (HNA) Paver Installer competition at our Lacey paver plant. The winner of the contest got an all-expenses paid trip to Louisville, Kentucky to compete on the national stage at HNA in October with other regional winners.
Overall, the event was a lot of work but a huge success due to contributions from everyone involved. Big kudos to Glenn Newby, Mutual Materials Lacey plant manager, for providing the venue and getting his staff to help throughout the competition with setup and tear down. We also got a lot of support from industry sponsors and several Willamette Graystone, and Belgard and Mutual Materials reps from Puget Sound, Oregon, and Idaho, took time out of their weekends to help pull the event off and support their customers. Finally, a big thanks to our three judges; Alan Burke of Classic Nursery, Gale Schroeder of Willamette Graystone, and Ed Harrington from Appian Construction.
And deserving of a big thanks all on their own is all of the competitors, who gave it their all to earn the title of Best in the Northwest. Seven teams – Jefferson Landscaping, Knudtson Landscaping, Seattle Rockeries, Segmental Systems, Clearwater Summit, Shovel and Thumb, and Terra Firma Hardscapes all represented their companies well. The competition was tough and the weather was hot and all of the teams were very impressive.
Each team was required to build an ICPI-designed 8’ x 10’ patio with Holland pavers in under 60 minutes and were judged on variety of factors important to ICPI installation guidelines. Winners advanced to the finals and had 90 minutes to be creative and install another 8’ x 10’ Holland patio incorporating TuscanStone and their own design.
In the end, Segmental Systems out of Otis Orchards, Washington was crowned the winner, earning an all-expense paid trip to compete in the national competition in Louisville on October 20th – 21st. Coming in second was Clearwater Summit out of Spokane, and coming in third place was Shovel and Thumb from Camas. Finally, Terra Firma out of Everett took home fourth place.
Thanks to everyone involved in the competition. We hope to see more competitors next year!
