Charlie Parkerson founded Lancaster Farms in 1969, two years before the first MANTS took place.

The Suffolk, Virginia, wholesale nursery grew into a successful business. Charlie retired in 2013 and his son Art runs the nursery. Charlie still drops by MANTS to see old friends. But at the beginning, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show was nothing like the behemoth it is today.

“It was spartan,” Charlie says, laughing.

The Baltimore Convention Center wasn’t fully built when the show’s organizers held their first MANTS there in 1981. One year, part of the trade show was in what could be charitably described as a tent. But the event kept evolving, and MANTS kept growing to fill up the main hall, the hall next to it and the hallways.

However, there is one aspect of the event that hasn’t changed. And Charlie hopes it never does.

“The key to Mid-Atlantic’s success is it’s a trade show,” Parkerson says. “It ain’t nothing but a trade show. We don’t have at 2 in the afternoon, ‘If all people would please go upstairs to room 203, we’re going to have so-and-so speak.’ It’s not that. It’s ‘Stay in your booth and sell, sell, sell.’”

This places MANTS in direct contrast to other industry events that bring in keynote speakers and offer continuing education credits. To those shows, an inspirational speech or an educational session on a new pest or disease could help their exhibitors and attendees improve their business. In Charlie’s view, anything that pulls an exhibitor or attendee off the trade show floor is counterproductive.

He doesn’t downplay the importance of the attendees. But he believes one of the reasons the show has been so successful is because it caters so well to what its exhibitors want.

“There are 11,000 people (that attend); that’s all fine,” Charlie says. “They pick up a little bit on registration. But it’s the exhibitors that make it work. And if they’re not selling, you won’t get the exhibitors.”

Baltimore was integral to MANTS’ success. The Inner Harbor, the waterfront that had been converted from a working port to a tourist destination, had just come off a major development in 1980. Just a short walk from the convention center, it provided proximity to restaurants and hotels. It was an attractive place to take a client.

Another perk was an affordable, accessible airport.

MANTS innovations

The trade show doesn’t owe all its success to its early January timing, its location or the need for a place for these horticultural suppliers to make deals. There were many steps along the way that elevated MANTS to the level at which it currently resides –— as the pre-eminent nursery trade show. Charlie says in the early days, the board members discussed the floor plan and which areas were more likely to receive the most floor traffic. They divided the floor plan up like a Monopoly board. Then, they took it one step further, adjusting the cost of exhibition spaces based on how desirable they were.

“We named some of those places in that trade show after Boardwalk and Park Place,” Charlie says. “If you want to be on that main aisle, you’ve got to pay more. People would gladly pay more, well, Lancaster Farms was glad to jump on it to be right in front and center. I think other trade shows should look at it that way too.”

Charlie respected Carville Akehurst, who he says was a good leader. After Akehurst’s sudden passing, his wife Nancy and daughter, Vanessa, took over and decided they weren’t going to make any radical changes. That decision was respected and met with mass exhibitor approval.

Charlie says MANTS was one of the first trade shows that advertised, but not without significant pushback. He often got feedback from incredulous growers, asking “You’re going to spend money advertising? Why?” Charlie and John Machen Sr. of Mobjack Nurseries, another 50-year exhibitor, spent a lot of effort convincing nurseries that it was worth the cost and in service of MANTS’ overall goal.

“These guys thought ‘you’re going to spend money advertising?’ C’mon people, advertising works,” he says. “We’re here to sell bushes. You’ve got to advertise. I don’t love my plants. I like to sell them. I love when I see them going on trucks. That’s what Mid-Atlantic is: selling.”

Many of MANTS’ innovations came from the idea that if you want to sell your product for more money, you should treat that product like it’s worth a higher price. The simple but effective idea of carpeting the exhibit floor did just that. The added comfort for exhibitors was a big win on its own, but it also portrayed the exhibitors as vendors of higher-value products.

“I was fighting for it just like I was fighting for the advertising,” Charlie says. “And people would tell me ‘Why would you spend $10,000 on carpets?’ Well, we want to get $20,000 back — why wouldn’t we spend $10,000?”

For the first year, only the main aisle of the trade show was carpeted. Those exhibitors who paid premium prices for a premium spot really got a good deal that year, he says.

“They did the main drag, Boardwalk and Park Place,” Charlie says. “Then they said, ‘that looks so nice,’ so next time they did it all.”

Charlie and the other association staff members that were part of planning MANTS each year went the extra mile to keep their exhibitors happy. The show really was geared toward the exhibitor, not the visiting public.

“We did some crazy things,” Charlie says. “Once, all the board of directors wore these terrible, terrible orange jackets. They would blame me for doing that. But it was so somebody could pick you out. You looked like a pumpkin. But if someone had a problem, we wanted to take care of it right then. We didn’t want to let it go. You make those exhibitors happy, they’re going to have deals. They’ve been doing it for 50 years, so I guess they’ve been successful doing it.”

The MANTS formula has appealed to Ingleside Plantation Nurseries (IPN) since day one. MANTS is solely a trade show (no educational sessions), there are product sales written on the trade show floor and the MANTS staff and board put exhibitors first. It’s not happenstance that IPN officials rank the show the best in the nursery industry — IPN helped create the show.

Carl F. Flemer Jr. founded the nursery division of IPN and was part of the close circle of nursery owners that brainstormed the idea of an annual trade show and made it a reality. Flemer, who served as the Virginia Nursery Association president in 1965, along with Carville Akehurst of the Maryland Nurserymen Association, were instrumental in the creation of MANTS. The inaugural show was held in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1971 with 64 exhibitors, including IPN. Fifty years after MANTS was officially incorporated, the two nurserymen’s vision still guides the show.

“Not many trade shows can say they’ve made it 50 years,” says Fletch Flemer, Carl’s son, who has spent most of his adult life attending MANTS each year.

“I didn’t get out of the service until 1972 or 1973, so it was in its early days when I first started attending the show,” Fletch recalls. “And I’ve been every year since then except recently for a stint of two years when I had to miss because of an operation.”

The show moved between Virginia and Maryland at first, then it added West Virginia to its itinerary for several years. By 1981, MANTS found its permanent home in Baltimore, a move Fletch supported.

“It was fun to go to the three states, but that can get tedious and thankfully the board listened to the exhibitors who asked to stay in one place,” he recalls. “That has certainly helped the show grow into the size and success it is now.”

MANTS has a reputation of being a “selling show,” and Fletch confirms it.

“A lot of business gets done at MANTS. In the ‘70s and the ‘80s, there were so many orders being written on the trade show floor. We wrote orders all day,” he says.

The modern-day MANTS is still a selling show, but as the nursery industry has transformed, so has the show.

“Now there are opportunities for marketing plants and creating partnerships,” he says. “We have a large screen in our booth that plays videos of our nursery on a continuous loop. That helps us sell to customers who can’t come out to our nursery in person. It gives them a good idea of what our product looks like in the field.”

Fletch and his crew have also enjoyed competing for the Best Booth Award each year with the other green-goods suppliers, he adds.

IPN exhibits exclusively at MANTS.

“We don’t exhibit anywhere else. MANTS is in the heart of our customer base and shipping area,” he explains.

IPN grows a wide assortment of nursery stock on approximately 1,000 acres. IPN’s production list includes vines, perennials, grasses, shrubs, azaleas, broadleaf evergreens, conifers and ornamental and shade trees.

Being a charter exhibitor is a source of pride for Fletch.

“A few of those original exhibitors are still in business and MANTS has been part of what helped us and the other originals grow and stay competitive,” Fletch says.

Fletch has begun the process of retirement and his nephew Jordan Flemer will take over the nursery business.

“There’s a change of guard to the next generation, but you’ll still see me at MANTS,” he says.

When Ed Tankard III, son of John Ed Jr. was asked if he always thought MANTS would be the success it is today, his response was, “I believed in my father. My father was always an optimist. Generally, whatever he committed himself to turned out well. So yes, I believed in it. I never had any doubts because I believed in him.”

The belief Ed is referring to is his father’s motion to move MANTS from its original location in Virginia, to its current site in Baltimore. “Despite many saying it was a bad idea, he believed in Baltimore from the very beginning.”

Now, 50 years later, MANTS — “the masterpiece of trade shows” — is just that.

For three generations, the Tankards have run their nursery in Exmore, Virginia, where Ed is now president. Initially, Ed attended law school until he realized it didn’t suit him. Though he never wanted to enter the family business because he “knew it was hard work,” he officially joined in 1992. However, that wasn’t the first time he stepped foot on to the family land.

“I was born here on the farm and I’m now 56 years old,” he says. “Oftentimes, my dad would put me out with the whole crew when I was about 5 or 6 years old instead of with a sitter.”

Ed’s first time attending MANTS was in 1981, courtesy of his father who pushed for his attendance during college. Since then, his favorite thing about MANTS has been the customer interaction and the business it cultivates.

“If you’re going to grow your business, you have to be aware of your customer’s needs. And by being able to have dinner, visit and see a whole bunch of customers at a time, you definitely walk away with ideas and thoughts about where the industry’s heading,” he says.

For his father, Ed says that too, was his favorite thing. “My father very much loved plants, but he loved people perhaps more, and I’d say I’m somewhat similar.”

To Ed, the business focus is what makes MANTS so successful, compared to other trade shows that focus on educational sessions and speakers.

“I would say [MANTS] is a nice checkup; sort of like visiting the doctor once a year. You get a chance to see how well you’re doing, how well the industry’s doing and what’s going on out there.”

In fact, Ed says this is especially important for nursery owners like him who live on farms away from the marketplace.

“Being able to visit with markets that might be in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Midwest is a great thing. You get to take in a whole bunch of customer ideas and experiences during the past year.”

With that said, he agrees with his father’s motion to locate MANTS in Baltimore, not because it’s his father, but because of geography. “Baltimore is a good place for the whole country up and down the coast,” he says.

Ed also refers to MANTS as the “biggest and best” trade show, which, he recalls, is the opposite of one nurseryman’s prediction.

“He was serious and knew everything. He was totally committed to telling [my] dad, ‘we need to close this show, we don’t need this show, this show’s going to be a failure,’ and every time I walk in, I think about that.”

For the future, Ed hopes MANTS will maintain its status quo and position in the industry. According to him, the growth in size has been staggering. During the first years, he recollects sparse attendees, minimal exhibitors and many doubters. But now, Ed says it’s grown from “a place where you could look up and down the aisles and not see that many people, to all you do is see people now,” which he hopes will continue.

As MANTS enters its 50th year of operation, Nursery Management magazine talked to some of the original exhibitors of the show. Star Roses and Plants, which was founded more than 75 years ago, has been with MANTS since the very beginning, and traveling to the show is a top priority for the company every year. Bradd Yoder, president of Star Roses, took a trip down memory lane and reminisced about the monumental impact the show has had over the years.

“It's so ingrained in what we do that we never even think about not coming back. It's always a great show for us,” Bradd says.

He has been with Star Roses for 26 years, but he attended four MANTS shows prior to that, when he worked for the Henry F. Michell Company. According to Bradd, the show is a great place to network while booking orders at the same time and allows them to be incredibly efficient.

“For our core business of nursery growers, there's not a better show. I mean, it is the show to be at. And that just keeps everybody coming back, in my opinion,” he says.

Another reason he considers the show so successful is because Star Roses is located just a little over an hour away, and it’s a convenient location for other vendors as well. He notes that Star Roses can bring many employees to the show at very little expense. The advantage gives Star Roses a one-up on the competition, since employees who can’t be flown out to other shows still get to experience MANTS in just a relatively short drive. It’s especially helpful for the younger people, since they are exposed to a larger part of the industry.

“They can see a lot more, and they get to meet a lot more people,” he says. “So that's been a real plus for us over the years.”

Bradd also commends the timing of the show, and attributes it as one of the many keys to MANTS’ longstanding success.

“I think it's at a great time of the year and almost everybody's upbeat and ready to get going for spring, he says.

He’s quick to point out that the MANTS staff is incredibly helpful during the setup process.

“We've always been able to pick up the phone and say 'Hey, we've got this little problem, is there anything you can help us with?' and over the years, that's been a great relationship,” he says.

Since attending his first show 30 years ago, Bradd regards the sheer expansion of the show as one of the biggest changes.

“I remember when it was only one hall and then it went to two, and I can't remember what it's up to now, but we joke sometimes that we feel bad for some of the customers because it's so big and so many important people are there. How do you get through it in two and a half days?”

Along with the size, he explains how the vendors have changed as the show expanded.

“I remember the first shows being plant-based, nursery-based. Now for somebody walking the show, you can see anything from a 4-inch caliper tree over to a blow-up thing for Christmas and everything in between,” he says.

Another thing that has changed is the time of week the show occurred. In the early days, MANTS used to rotate throughout the week, which meant it sometimes coincided with the NFL playoff championship game.

“If it was ever on a Sunday, nobody was on the floor. It was only vendors. And those vendors tried to find a TV in the area so they could watch the game as well,” he says. “So, when they changed it to be only during the week, that was a huge, huge advantage and it was a good thing.”

In all the chaos and networking, Bradd shares some of the memories that have stood out to him the most. In particular, he recalls that during the 50th anniversary of the Peace Rose, Star Roses wanted to serve wine and cheese in the booth because the Peace Rose came from a French breeder.

“I remember that broke all these rules,” he says, laughing. “Because you're not allowed to serve alcohol, and you're really not allowed to really serve food, if I remember right.”

Luckily, they were able to work through those rules and Star Roses ended up serving attendees wine and cheese. Bradd says he learned a very valuable lesson that day: “If you ever want to have people in your booth, all you have to do is give them food and alcohol, because we had more people in our booth and the longest lines I'd ever seen.”

Brad is grateful for all the experiences and networking opportunities the show has provided over the years.

“We consider it something we wouldn't even think of missing — we consider them a partner in our business. We're very glad we were one of the original exhibitors,” he reflects. “We're really excited about the future.”