Last week it was my privilege to once again report from the world's largest trade exhibition for the outdoor power equipment industry, Equip.
I attended with a contingent from TurfPro and our sister magazine for the UK professional dealer trade, Service Dealer. Enjoying the show alongside me were owner of TurfPro and Service Dealer, Duncan Murray-Clarke, our video expert David Comiskey and Pete and Emma McArthur from dealership Strathbogie Forest & Garden representing our incredible UK commercial dealer sector.
I personally haven't attended Equip for three years and it's absolutely extraordinary to see how it has grown even bigger in the intervening period. Honestly, it's on another level. The size and scale of the show is genuinely a sight to behold. I'm sure any of our UK readers who work in any kind of a turf professional capacity couldn't fail to be impressed by the event that the OPEI exceeds themselves with each and every edition. They describe it as the show where the industry comes home, and despite the sheer hugeness of the endeavour, it does indeed feel like a celebratory gathering of people from across the US and the globe - all with a shared passion for the sector.
And last week, the show felt like even more of a party than usual. Only days before they opened their gates on Wednesday they were named as the Greatest Trade Show by Trade Show Executive - and incredibly, were cited as the third largest trade show of any industry in the United States! That's mightily impressive.
Our visit to Louisville, kicked off last Tuesday with a Welcome Celebration held at Churchill Downs racecourse, home of the famous Kentucky Derby.
Pete, Emma and Duncan at Churchill Downs racetrack
Here the thousands of attendees gathered ahead of the official opening of the show, to view the magnificent racing cathedral, have a drink and some food and get ready for the big kick off.
DAY 1
The show itself got underway on Wednesday, with what I always think is a superb innovation. From 9am till 12pm the indoor showfloor is exclusively open for dealers and the press. This allows for an environment of open and honest conversation between the dealers in attendance and their manufacturer suppliers.
Once these dealer-exclusive hours concluded, the show was then opened to the professional end-users visitors - the vast majority of whom, I think it's fair to say, come from the landscaper / contractor sector, rather than the sportsturf industry. It was at this point that the vast outdoor demonstration area is opened and when a UK visitor gets to really comprehend just how ginormous this show truly is! Both in terms of footprint and visitor numbers.
The showground in its entirety is simply vast. I asked Chuck Bowen of the OPEI how long he thought it would take to walk from one end to the other and he said at least 30 minutes - and that would be without bumping into people! He told me that moving visitors around the site could be something they look at options for in the future.
As well as spending hours walking up and down the vast aisles and demonstration plots checking out the exhibitors, I spent time both days attending various press conferences held by manufacturers such as STIHL, Honda, Briggs & Stratton and Toro amongst others.
Getting inked on the STIHL stand!
On STIHL's stand (where you could sign up for a genuine STIHL tattoo to be emblazoned on you live at the show!) their top management spoke about the 80+ new innovations coming in 2026. Included in this were a new water pump line-up; upgraded cut-off machines; their latest developments in mobile and static charging technology; a top handled chainsaw and various mowers.
Honda meanwhile were giving a major launch to two new ZTR mowers - the Prozision and the Prozision Autonomous. The latter of these allowed a user to drive an area to be mown once, which the unit will then remember, and can subsequently be left to cut without an operator on board. It has the ability to store multiple cut routes in its memory allowing contractors to take the machine to multiple locations.
Briggs & Stratton were promoting their For Pros, By Pros theme for the show. This included developments to their Vanguard engines that meant they ran cooler; news that they are working on developments to their swappable Vanguard battery packs; an all new Ferris Z1 32" with Oil Xtend; and the launch of the all-new Z3002 Hurricane blower from Billy Goat.
Toro had representatives from their various product area departments discuss innovation in the company and the developments they were excited about. Areas mentioned included modifications to the Turf Master; new autonomous mowing solutions; and their hybrid fairways mowers. They said all departments were aiming to help their end-user customers face their biggest challenge, which at the moment tends to be staffing - hence the concentration on autonomy.
Also on Wednesday our sister magazine, Service Dealer, led a high profile discussion session on the main stage with NAEDA, considering similarities and differences in issues faced by dealers on both sides of the Atlantic. You can read about that in some more detail here.
Tom Healy, Jason Huber, Pete and Duncan
One observation I did make at the end of the first day, once I had been able to take in both the inside and outside areas, was perhaps a slight dichotomy in the industry currently? Inside, many of the exhibits on display were sleek, AI-powered, robotic, clean, futuristic, technological developments. Then when you walked outside, you were hit with an absolute cacophony of roaring engine noise and the distinct smell of gasoline exhausts. And the vast numbers of people using the machines to make these noises and smells, appeared to absolutely love them!
So certainly in the U.S, I don't think many turf professionals will be giving up their gas-powered equipment any time soon.
DAY 2
Day 2 of the show, saw the extraordinary Mutt Madness take place alongside the main exhibition. Imagine going to SALTEX, GroundsFest or BTME and coming home having adopted a cute new puppy! That's what this is. It sounds crazy, but it works at Equip and offers the visitors something different, allowing a bit of time away from the main show.
This year's edition took place in the main atrium of the huge venue, meaning the puppies attracted a ton of attention from both attendees and the local and national media. The show once again made a sizeable ($10,000) donation to the Kentucky Humane Society.
It was during Mutt Madness that I managed to speak with the man whose brainchild that is, and who in his role as President of the OPEI oversees the whole of Equip, Kris Kiser.
Kris Kiser speaking with Steve Gibbs
Kris and I discussed both the show itself and the current state of the wider US industry. We covered topics such as the trends in technology seen at the show; how robotics are taking off for both domestic and professional users in the US - but how there is still a very real place for gasoline. We also touched on the thorny issue of tariffs and how the uncertainly of those is impacting the U.S market. You can watch my full interview with Kris when Service Dealer's Digital Special Report is published soon.
Pete, Duncan and David filming in downtown Louisville
If you're interested, we shall have so much more from Equip across all of Service Dealer's channels in the coming weeks - including, as mentioned, a packed Digital Special Report. Duncan, Pete and David spent the week recording many video interviews with the great and the good across the exhibition - as well as capturing our various in-depth sit-downs with the movers and shakers of the US outdoor power equipment industry. There will also, of course, be plenty more coverage in Service Dealer magazine itself.
Until then, I'd just like to thank the organisers of Equip for staging such a magnificent show and for making us all feel so welcomed and included in their celebration of the industry. It really is a genuine pleasure to attend this event. I feel confident in saying that if any of our UK turf professional readers were able to find the time (and the finances) to make the trip over to Louisville at some point, they would not be disappointed. It's a true eye-opener and full of wonderful discoveries.
Pete summed it up this week, saying, "There is just nothing on this scale in the UK. It's really a remarkable achievement."
