2022 Summer Meeting Recap
By Rick Haggard, INLA Executive Director | Photos by Meghan Gillen.
August 4-5, 2022 | Northeast side of Indianapolis – Geist Reservoir and city of Fishers, Indiana
Day 1: Summer Tour – Primary focus for tours being the subdivisions surrounding Geist Reservoir
Who would think after suffering through the heat and drought of June and July, that a forecast for rain would happen on this day. Well, we soldiered on as they say with our first stop being a recent project completed by Aspen Outdoor Designs, with Blake Herbst portraying to the group intricate details this project. Also describing some of the challenges that this particular project created during the process. Next, while still in a light shower we toured a couple of sites that GreenImage had completed. Dan Weingart, owner of GreenImage, described both projects and how each client’s wanted became a reality. The challenges for each project came from the various elevation and grade changes. The next stop was a site on the water that was completed by MG Landscape and Irrigation. Chris Geryak described to the group the many challenges of this project when he was at MG Landscape and Irrigation. Hard to fathom how much detail and engineering goes into trying to create some of these projects with a large body of water in your back yard. Please keep in mind the above projects were viewed by the “land tour” group escorted to these sites by vans and personal vehicles, while the group wanting to view an array of homes via pontoon boats were probably dealing with brief showers the elements.
Next while the pontoon boats were visiting a Franco Landscape project, the land tour was visiting Jim and Melissa Calvin’s home for a landscape tour and lunch catered by Fox Gardin Family Kitchen. The Franco Landscape site was within walking distance from Jim and Melissa’s, so after a little time the water faring group met up with land group, and had lunch after spending a little joint time together. Special thanks Jim and Melissa for opening up your home and hospitality, allowing us to have lunch and a landscape tour stop. The land tour then went to the Franco Landscape site, Kevin Snyder described the project as well as the creation of indoor/outdoor patio with screens and fireplace that can be utilized for both. The two early afternoon sites were accessible by water and land so both groups were able to tour them. Both sites were done by Vive Exterior Designs with Ryan Coyle describing the details of each project, as well as the many unique challenges that came with each one. The first had very limited access, and the utilization of a creative mindset to transform what was designed to fruition in the form of a fully landscaped back yard. The second project had some uniqueness in the details of the hardscape patterns and materials used.
After these projects in the Geist Reservoir area, the pontoon boats returned to the Marina and met up with the land tour group at the commercial site of The Fishers District located just east of I-69 and 116th Street. Sovereign Landscape maintains many of the areas and did landscaping in many sections that make up this commercial entity. Mark Johnston and Andrew Livingston, guided the combined group as we walked along the ground level areas before we headed up to the 3rd floor courtyards utilized by the apartment tenants. This was the conclusion of the tours.
Dinner at Wasson’s Nursery and Garden Center, Fishers
What an absolute gorgeous evening and venue we were fortunate to have for the dinner. Food was cooked and prepared onsite, from their own wood-fired pizza oven while having an acoustic guitarist play. If you have never been to this Wasson location (13279 E 126th Street, Fishers, IN 46037), you really need to stop by and just roam around. After dinner and beverages, round one of the INEF Auction took place with Robert Johnstone doing his usual money-raising auctioneering to the tune of around $12,850.00 (including gun raffle and 50/50).
Day 2: Shooting for Scholarships
Eleven teams took part in the 2022 INEF Shooting for Scholarships held at the Indiana Gun Club. The best overall team was Team RLM #1, with each individual receiving a trophy and $100.00 cash. The team, comprised of Dean Ricci, Greg Henderlong, Leroy Grube, and Logan Faulkner, finished with a score of 164. Second place went to Team Franco comprised of Brant Boram, Mike Broge, Blake Herbst, and Dave Todd with a score of 149. Third place was Team West Side Tractor they had five players and the lowest score was dropped; Matt Brown, Austin Hunter, Blake Hunter, Collin Duncan, and Kevin McCart were the shooters for this team, finishing with the top four scores totaling 141. There was a tie for best individual score with a score of 44 out of 50 targets. The individual winners were Blake Herbst and Tyler Kingdon, each receiving $100.00.