1968 - 2002

The late '60s and early '70s saw continued growth in the number of members, income and services. Much of the success of the ONA during this period must be attributed to executive secretary, Ken Reisch.

In the fall of 1972, Ken was appointed associate dean of the OSU College of Agriculture and resigned from his ONA post. At that time, administration of the association was directed by the Ohio Hardware Association and executive secretary Pete Olmsted.

The ONA continued to expand membership and services through the '70s until Pete's untimely death in late 1976.

In 1976, the ONA board of directors, led by ONA President Dale Manbeck, decided the time had come to hire a permanent staff and created association offices in Columbus. Bill Stalter was hired as executive director in November, 1976. At the time, total income for the year was $51,635 and membership was at 420.

In 1983, the ONA celebrated its 75th anniversary with total membership at 688 and income at nearly $220,000.

Increased membership, additional and improved member services and expansion of the trade show marked the 10-year period from 1983 through 1993. In 1994, three major events took place.

1. The membership voted to change the name of the organization from the Ohio Nurserymen's Association to the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association to better reflect its members.
2. The association purchased its own office building in Westerville, a northeast suburb of Columbus.
3. The Central Environmental Nursery Trade Show (CENTS) moved to the new Greater Columbus Convention Center and expanded from 556 booths to 915. CENTS continues to expand. In 2002 the show featured 1357 booths occupied by 710 firms. The number of registered attendees totaled 13,035.

A new dynamic in trade show sales and attendance was seen in 2002. The internet has proven itself to be a useful tool in the way many companies in all sectors conduct their sales and purchases. Trade show booth sales and attendance have suffered due to increased internet commerce, not only in the green industry, but in other industries as well.

While trade shows are still an important venue for networking and one-on-one business to customer contact, the younger generation of business people, who have grown up with the internet, find it just as useful to conduct business electronically. That has forced trade shows to become more encompassing by increasing educational tracks, to use websites for virtual up-to-date show floor plans, online registration, the availability of free access to email retrieval, a convenient convention center, competitive hotel room rates, etc.