October 2002 AGGMAN People

To keep the thousands who attend Dozer Day entertained, event planners have developed many non-equipment centered activities such as rock climbing (left), but the haul truck rides (above) continued to attract many visitors.

Halquist Stone’s Dozer Day fundraiser puts the community in community relations. The event, designed to benefit the local school system, began in 1997. Since then, the company’s Sussex Quarry has hosted more than 120,000 visitors and raised approximately $450,000 for the Hamilton Education Foundation, a private foundation that aids six schools in the area.
According to Tom Halquist, president of Halquist Stone, the idea for the event came from a local developer, Mike Mooney, who had happened by an open house at a local aggregates operation. Based on a visit to Wingra Stone’s event, they envisioned a fundraiser capable of raising $100,000 per year.
What developed — Dozer Day — has benefitted all parties involved including the schools, the community, and its primary sponsor.
“We liked the idea because we have a couple of quarries, a crushing plant, and a store all within the municipality’s school district,” said Halquist. Although the event is hosted at the same quarry each year, all of the company’s operations benefit from the good will generated throughout the community.

Event Development
Working with foundation board members, the schools, equipment dealers, the local media, a graphics and printing shop, and the National Guard, Halquist Stone helped organize what has become one of the state’s premiere family entertainment events.
Held shortly after Labor Day, Dozer Day is an equipment-centered event featuring off-highway trucks, loaders, backhoes, dozers, scissor lifts, cranes, articulated trucks, utility equipment, and military and emergency vehicles.
According to Halquist, the company has had a longstanding relationship with the local National Guard unit. The guard uses several acres of the company’s property to run weekend drills and had offered to repay the favor.
During planning, Halquist called in that favor, asking a guard representative for assistance. The National Guard answered the call with howitzers, hummers, personnel carriers, rocket launchers, and personnel. They also fly a Blackhawk helicopter over the area. The helicopter lands on the property shortly before Dozer Day opens and takes off right before it closes.
Through a contact on the foundation’s board, one of the local fire departments promised to bring a truck. Over the years, other fire departments have joined the event, providing an array of ladder trucks, emergency vehicles, and a miniature house where youngsters can take turns manning the hose and pretending to be firemen.
A food tent, run by staff from Payne and Dolan, provides refreshments for attendees. Following ticket sales, which account for approximately two-thirds of the proceeds, food and beverage sales are the second biggest source of income for the event.
Other profit centers include t-shirt sales, which are subcontracted to a t-shirt vendor with a portable production shop in his truck, and a souvenir center where parents can buy their children smaller versions of the equipment they see at the operation.

Promotion and Growth
In 1997, the first year for Dozer Day, approximately 5,000 people attended the event, and it raised $32,000 for the Hamilton Education Foundation. “That first day, I don’t think I stopped running until 2 or 3 p.m.,” said Halquist. “Now, I can usually breathe by noon.”
Over the last five years, the event has grown tremendously. In 2000, approximately 30,000 people participated. Proceeds that year totaled $125,000, well over the $100,000 annual goal. While attendance and profits were down due to poor weather in 2001, both categories increased this year under better conditions.
Event promotion has played a large role in the growth of Dozer Day. One of the event’s co-sponsors is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. According to Halquist, the newspaper donated nearly $45,000 in advertising space to the event this year. Several articles about Dozer Day appear in the newspaper before and after it takes place. This year, Halquist said the planning committee made its first ever investment in paid advertising with the purchase of television promotional spots in hopes of drawing capacity crowds.
While Halquist said that he would like to see Dozer Day draw crowds of 30,000 or more each year, one of the challenges the event faces is how to have enough equipment and activities to keep everyone busy.
For example, it is difficult to have an equipment-centered event without enough equipment. After the first Dozer Day in 1997, Halquist said that he realized that he needed to ensure the availability of equipment, but the event’s needs exceeded his inventory. A representative from the local Caterpillar dealer, Fabco, offered to provide all the necessary equipment on an exclusive basis. Each year, the dealer brings in between 35 and 40 additional pieces of equipment including backhoes, wheel loaders, articulated trucks, scissor lifts, and smaller utility equipment. The dealer also volunteered to handle the toy sales.
To keep Dozer Day exciting, new events are added each year. This year, “Quarry Creek” made its debut. Halquist said that they shot a 300-ft. long trench that was stocked with fish. For a $1 admission, which goes to the local food pantry, participants can pick up a rod and spend the day fishing — all while subtly learning about reclamation opportunities.
“We’re trying to identify activities that don’t require equipment because that can’t keep growing,” said Halquist. “That can’t be the solution.”
Other new features include a masonry event where children help build a stone wall, a rock toss, and a mobile rocket launcher brought in by the National Guard.
While equipment and activities are key to drawing people to Dozer Day, Halquist said the greatest challenge the event faces is recruiting the 700 to 800 volunteers it takes to man the event. “It takes hundreds of volunteers,” said Halquist. “Every year, it’s almost like the first because you have new people or they’re in new spots.”
But while finding volunteers may be an ongoing challenge, attracting attendees is not. Exit survey results indicate that eight out of 10 attendees will return.
“We attribute a lot of that to the fact that it’s a different type of event,” said Halquist. “The first year, I saw a friend from high school I haven’t seen in years. His neighbors came early and told him that he had to put his kids in the car and come. It’s that type of enthusiastic word of mouth that’s helped it grow.”

Mind Over Management

When the Truth You Tell is a Great Big Lie

Don’t miss new opportunities for improvement based on the “truth” of habits

By Bill Dyer

Every year in Australia there is a long distance foot race from Melbourne to Sidney, a distance of 600 kilometers. The race’s participants are world class runners from around the globe. One particular year, a farmer named Cliff Young decided he would run the race. He had never run in an organized foot race, and his training consisted of chasing his cows around on the farm. On the day the race began, Young showed up in a pair of overalls, wearing goulashes, and leaving everyone convinced that if this maniac completed one tenth of the race, it would be a miracle.
Not only did Young last a while, he actually finished the race. Incredibly, not only did he finish, he also WON the race. Miraculously, he won the race by a day and a half! His amazing accomplishment was explained during post race interviews.
When asked how to run a 600K race, all the “world class” runners answered, “You run 18 hours and sleep six hours, then get up and do the same thing.” When Young was interviewed about how he ran the race and won, he simply said, “When everyone else stopped to sleep, I kept running.” When they heard of Young’s strategy, the world class runners found it difficult to swallow. They were the experts. They had run this race their way for years — knowing they had the best formula. It was tough for them to accept that a farmer had annihilated the field simply because he didn’t know any better.
This story contains wisdom for all of us. Sometimes we operate in our life based on our “truth” — which is not necessarily at our highest potential. The world class runners had their truth for the best way to run a 600K race. Young had another truth for the best way to run a 600K race. The world class runners had a truth, which obviously was not the best truth. We must be careful about our expert status.
Whether for a world class racer or a seasoned manager in the aggregates industry, it’s easy to get caught in the trap of doing things because “that’s the way they’ve always been done and it’s worked pretty well.” Like the world class runners, we could miss a “truth” or “truths” that make a significant and positive difference in what we accomplish. Granted, there are many activities, methods, procedures, and policies that have served each of us well for a long time. I call these successful and timeless habits. However, not all of our best habits are timeless. Holding onto some old ways with the truth that they are the end all best way to do things is a sure way to lose the race called “produce more for less and do it safer.”
I spoke to one industry manager who said that in his 20 years of industry experience, he has noticed that many people in the aggregates industry resist technology and look away from the possibilities it holds because the old ways have worked so well for such a long time. He proceeded to give a fairly recent and fantastic example of how limiting that mindset can be.
One operation he managed was producing 1.5 million tons per year. They had been taking care of the blasting themselves — shooting 200 days per year and using blasting technology that was decades old. They had had their system for a long time; they knew how to do it very well, and it worked just fine. As a result, getting them to buy into change was not easy and didn’t happen overnight. However, they started implementing some changes using the expertise of an explosives company and the latest technology in blasting equipment and design.
Within a few years, the quarry went from shooting 200 days per year to 40 days per year, resulting in less vibration, dust, and neighbor complaints, as well as reduced costs from better breakage and fewer pit interruptions. For the 160 days where blasting no longer had to be performed because of the increased shot size and new procedure, two hours per day or 320 hours per year were saved. At 1,000 tons per hour, they had added 320,000 tons per year with no further cost or effort.
This is a classic example of what becomes possible when you are open to change and taking advantage of technological improvements. As technology continues to advance and accelerate, there will always be opportunities for improvement, not only in blasting, but every area related to hydraulics, systems, screening, cables, stockpiling, loading, and hauling. You may vary in how fast or to what degree you change and when, but the important thing is that you are changing. Staying competitive means staying reasonably close to the leading edge of technology in your market and among your competitors.
In addition to technology, another area for improvement is with regard to people and policies. Another industry veteran I interviewed had the following story. For years he hammered home the idea that there is a direct relationship between a safe work environment and lower costs. One day he asked some of his guys why they have never recommended better ways of doing things. Their response was, “You all never ask us.”
That awakening led to an awards dinner being made a part of the company’s annual safety, education, and cost saving plan. Employees gave suggestions for improvement and cost cutting, and a committee of their peers selected a winner. The process boosted morale and pride and instilled a sense of responsibility throughout the organization. It also generated innovative ideas that could be used or built upon to save money. In fact, it worked so well that this particular manager told me, “Giving a few thousand dollars away as a reward for employee suggestions saves you $25,000 in the long run.” It’s hard to imagine that some managers still think those front line people don’t have good ideas. It’s all in the approach.
Mark Twain said, “It’s not what I don’t know that limits me. It’s what I know that ain’t so.” As long as you are learning, growing, and changing, it’s tough to be beaten badly by what you don’t know. However, when you continue to operate knowing that you are doing things the best possible way, beware. If what you know “ain’t so,” it’s only a matter of time before you wake up with your head spinning about how the forward thinking Cliff Youngs of the aggregates industry are leaving you in the dust.

Bill Dyer is a professional speaker and trainer for Quantum Leap Resources, Greensboro, N.C.