After a long 17 months apart, members of the Tennessee equipment and event rental community enjoyed the chance to “play ball” again at the ARA of Tennessee’s “Night at the Ballpark” on July 20.
An evening of baseball, free food, networking and fun were on tap for the attendees at AT&T Field in Chattanooga as the Chattanooga Lookouts took on the Birmingham Barons.
The gathering was just the spark that everyone needed after a long period of time away from their peers.
“It was great to get out for an in-person ARA of Tennessee meeting after a very long and stressful year-and-a-half. It felt good to get back to networking with industry peers. This event made me remember just how important that part of ARA [American Rental Association] membership can be,” says Mike Holland, CERP, president, Chattanooga Tent Co., Chattanooga, Tenn., and an ARA of Tennessee board member.
Rental owners like Rodney Coker, owner, Coker Rental Co., Clinton, Tenn., were of a like mind with Holland about the benefits of gathering at a social event like the Night at the Ballpark.
“It was really nice to get together and meet a lot of new people,” Coker says. “We’re fairly new to rental — we’re only five or six years in and we’ve only been with ARA for maybe three years now. Almost 18 months of that was blocked off by COVID — there wasn’t anything going on. We met a lot of new people at the game, and a lot of good things were said to help us learn.”