WSA’s First Sweeper Roundup Draws 100

The World Sweeping Association’s (WSA) Sweeper Roundup, held Sept. 14-16 in Kansas City, MO, drew almost 100 people and received widespread support from manufacturers, according to Ranger Kidwell-Ross, executive director of WSA.

The event’s Sept. 14 kickoff featured a reception and dinner party which provided an opportunity for contractors and manufacturers’ reps to get acquainted on an informal basis. Also included was a screening of the 2002 “Junkyard Wars” television show where engineers from Schwarze and Elgin faced off to build competitive air and broom sweepers from junkyard parts. The leader of the winners, Jim Adair, who is now Schwarze’s director of product management, was in attendance.

The morning of Sept. 15 seminars were offered two at a time, enabling contractors to attend two sessions total. One seminar, “Maintenance to Minimize Downtime and Maximize Vehicle Longevity,” was streamed live on WorldSweeper.com’s Facebook page. Kidwell-Ross said plans are to provide all attendees with video links to all of the sessions.

Seminars were followed by a “Sweeper Rodeo.” Overseen by a judging team led by Kansas City contractor Ryan Bertholdi of Moonlight Sweeping LLC, more than two dozen participants were timed as they navigated a narrow, winding course in the Schwarze Gale Force. The course also skills with a handheld blower and backing between a row of “penalty grapes” to see how close they could get to a dumpster without actually hitting it. The Rodeo was won by Tobias Weissenrieder, a representative of German sweeper manufacturer Aebi-Schmidt.

The evening portion of the Roundup was held at the Holsman Stables event center, also owned by Gale Holsman, president of host sweeping contractor, American Sweeping Inc. The night featured a campfire, hayrides, BBQ from legendary Kansas City restaurant Jack Black’s, and music on an outdoor stage by one of Kansas City’s top bands, the Selle Brothers.

Industry sponsors donated a wide variety of items to an ongoing raffle, which generated an additional $1,000 to the charity event’s coffers. Top prize was a scale model of a vintage Elgin Whitewing sweeper that was hand made by McKinley Page. The model sported a rotating gutter and main broom and the model even moved on its own power on a flat surface. Colorado-based contractor, Robert Pitman, was the winning entrant. Money raised by the raffle, along with proceeds from the entire weekend event, to which the normal venue rental fees and all labor was donated, will go to WSA’s Memorial Scholarship Fund.