WE'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!

How did 13,000 unrelated, disconnected septic contractors in 1975 become one of the strongest, most cohesive industries in America? You could point to many events since the mid 1970's and say, That's it. It all started there.

Reprinted from May Pumper Magazine

Most would probably say it's Pumper Magazine. Many would say it's the Expos. Some would say it's the founding of NAWT, the National Association. We would agree that these events were very important, but it really started before all that.

We would argue that the genesis of the pumping industry happened in a small office on Cape Cod. Rick Howe and Lew Garston of then Cape Cod Chemical - now Cape Cod Biochemical Company, manufacturers of the CCLS® family of bacterial waste treatment products - knew there was a place for bacteria products in septics, and they were sure that pumpers were the right way to get them there. But when they first set out to contact pumpers there was no way to reach them. No Pumper Magazine, no NAWT, no Expo, not even a mailing existed.

They tried their ideas quite successfully with some local Cape Cod pumpers who they found in the Yellow Pages. Fortunately for all, one of those pumpers, Ben Perry, convinced Rick and Lew that homeowner education was the key. Rick, then produced the customer education brochure, What Everyone Should Know About Septic Tank Systems" that has become the industry standard. The idea was so successful that Howe and Garston got more Yellow Page books and started sending out mail. The response was huge. So they decided to compile the first-ever national mailing list for the septic trades. Before they were done they had acquired every telephone directory in the US; over 5000 books. They spent 6 months (with no computers!!) putting together the list that would eventually find them Pete Lawonn, a pumper from Three Lakes, Wisconsin.

Pete became a good CCLS® dealer, and one day Pete called us to say he was trying to sell a pump truck. He hadn't had any success advertising through the normal channels, so he and his friend Bob Kendall were going to start a trade journal to sell the truck. Pete wanted to know if we would advertise in this trade journal. And thus the Midwest Pumper was born. Well, now it's 30 years and over 350 issues later. Midwest Pumper was closely followed by Eastern Pumper, then Western Pumper, and soon Cleaner came along.

Not long after Pumper started, one of our CCLS® dealers in Kentucky, Ricky Alexander, called with an idea; how about a trade show?

We thought it was a great idea, and so did Bob and Pete. We ran a questionaire in Pumper asking pumpers if they liked the idea of a show; where it should take place; what time of year; what duration; and what should be exhibited there. Again the response was amazing.

So in January 1981 the pumping trades converged on the Opryland Hotel in Nashville for what has become the premier expo for the septic-related trades. The "Pumper Show" has grown from 25,000 sq. ft. in Nashville in 1981 to over 400,000 sq. ft. this year in Louisville, with over 13,000 people in attendance, and offering more than 60 educational seminars on every topic imaginable. From the primitive beginnings of the first Midwest Pumper has evolved one of the strongest and most sophisticated industries in the U.S.

We at Cape Cod Biochemical Company have certainly enjoyed many of the benefits of bringing together the brightest and the best. But even more than that, we are proud to be a part of this great industry, and we cherish the friendships we have made over the last 30 years.

And even though we have advertised in EVERY issue of Pumper, and have exhibited at EVERY expo, we know that Bob Kendall and his superlative staff at COLE Publishing treat even the newest subscriber and the newest Expo exhibitor and attendee every bit as well as they treat us. And that says a lot, because we get treated incredibly well.

So' "Congratulations" and a gigantic "Tip o' the Hat" to Bob and Pete and everybody at COLE Publishing and to every pumper in the U.S. We're all in this together, and we couldn't be happier that 25,000 scattered individual contractors have become one. Happy 30th and Thanks, COLE. You're the glue!