NAPSA: Information for Sweeping Professionals

Here's an example of the kind of fun NAPSA members have when they get together at national shows. Here is an overview of the NAPSA party hosted by Gale Holsman's American Sweeping, Inc. at the 2002 APWA show in Kansas City, Missouri.

NAPSA Membership Open House Held at American Sweeping in Kansas City

After this NAPSA membership open house, no one would dispute that the crew at Kansas City-based American Sweeping knows how to throw a party.

The head of American, Gale Holsman, had his place spic-n-span, his band ready to entertain and lots of food and drink on hand. Coupled with a wide variety of door prizes and a still-warm Autumn evening, the naPSa-sponsored event couldn't have turned out nicer.

American Sweeping is located in the Grandview area of greater Kansas City. A chartered bus provided the transportation from and back to the hotels, so it was an opportunity for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves.

On all sides could be heard the chatter of contractors talking shop: what sweepers each were being used in what situations, employee issues, customer handling, routing, and all the other things about the sweeping business you can imagine one might want to learn from someone in the same line of work who's located in another part of the country.

In addition to the shop area, which included a raised stage and long table filled with mounds of barbecue and all the trimmings, Holsman had a large party tent filled with tables and chairs set up outside the bay doors. Out in the company's parking lot were arrayed American's many sweepers, as well as some provided by the manufacturers. For anyone in sweeping it was a delight to be able to go from machine to machine, talking shop the whole time.

Inside, Gale had also parked his prize-winning Stars and Stripes Harley, and allowed people to get on board for pictures. He also was a part of the entertainment, and showed off his guitar and singing expertise performing in his longtime band, StageFrite, which provided several sets of fine music.

From the audience there emerged a number of jammers, including Brian Giles, of Elgin, on bass guitar, and our editor, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, on drums and frattoir (zydeco rubboard). To assist with the verses on Mustang Sally, Gale, with a little help from the crowd in general, was able to entice almost a dozen prominent sweeper industry people onto the stage, including Schwarze's CFO, Robbin Hodges, past NAPSA president, Gabe Vitale, and PAVEMENT magazine's new-to-sweeping reporter, Lindsey Hitch.

Throughout the evening, breaks in the music were filled with the awarding of a number of door prizes provided by sweeper manufacturers and suppliers. Another highlight of the evening was the signing of NAPSA's 190th member, a milestone for our national sweeper organization. This, too, was a credit to Holsman, since he sponsored the new member, Tom Kuesel, of T.J.K. Services in Broomfield, Colorado. For his sponsorship, Gale will receive $50 off his next year's NAPSA membership dues.

All-in-all, the evening provided a fitting cap to what had been one of the best organized, most professional exposition days I'd seen in the more than a decade I've been covering the sweeping industry. The sense of camaraderie and friendship that pervaded the evening was terrific, and the combination of fun and learning is one that, as businesspeople, we are able to enjoy all too seldom.

If you were at this and the other NAPSA events at APWA this year, then I'm sure you'd agree that the value you received far exceeded the cost of attendance. If you didn't go, or aren't yet a NAPSA member, you're truly missing out on an opportunity to increase your competitiveness, while at the same time making friends among sweeping contractors throughout the country.

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