The Best Seats
In The House

It’s happening at community centres, sports fields, colleges, universities, and municipal properties across Canada and the United States. No, we aren’t talking about petty theft such as stolen cell phones and other small objects of value; we are talking about large-scale theft of valuable athletic equipment.

A project that was nearly 12 months in the making brought us back to beautiful Montreal, Quebec. Working closely with key stakeholders from the English Montreal School Board which services 41 elementary schools, 17 high schools, 7 adult education facilities, 6 vocational schools and 11 outreach schools on the island of Montreal, we were invited to a tender for some new seating.

The public tender outlined the details for four sections of prospective retractable bleacher sections for JFK High School located just north of the city’s downtown core.

Instead of the original four banks of seating that were to measure 16’ in length and have four rows of seating, our team looked at another possible solution for the school. Thinking a little outside of the box, our team went to tender instead with a proposed bid that outlined just two banks of retractable bleachers that would measure 32’ and would feature four rows of seating.

Committed to fostering a safe, supportive and stimulating environment for students, Ancaster District High School provides a variety of transitional programs and leadership opportunities for its students.

Located in what’s known as Toronto’s Golden Horseshoe, the school is located on the western fringe of the city of Hamilton, a port city located at the west end of Lake Ontario.

In addition to the school’s focus on academics, Ancaster High School also takes pride in its extensive athletic programming. Representing high school athletics as the Ancaster Royals, the school’s gymnasium serves as a hub not only for physical education but also for pride and recognition of the students’ athletic prowess.

Celebrating over 30 years of gymnasium safety, the revolutionary Aut-O-Loc safety system  has undergone a massive transformation. Since releasing the third generation of their patented technology in 2017, facility owners and operators across Canada and the United States have been taking a second look at their existing Aut-O-Locs and assessing whether or not they are in need of an update.

Honouring current, past and present women whose lives exemplified the courage, resilience and independence that ultimately shaped the American West, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is the only museum in the world dedicated to preserving their history.

Located in Fort Worth, Texas the museum is home to more than 4,000 artifacts and information regarding over 750 remarkable women, celebrating their decorated past and on-going contributions to American society today.

In 2015, the museum began the early stages of what would be a massive $5.5 million renovation that eventually made its way upstairs to the facility’s second floor. With much fanfare, the second floor was once again open to the public earlier this month and we were fortunate to have been involved with the redevelopment of one of the museum’s attractions.

Operating as the second largest high school athletic association in North America, the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) is home to annual championships in sports such as basketball, hockey, cross country, curling, field hockey, tennis, skiing, badminton, volleyball, golf, gymnastics and more.

Leading up to this year’s basketball championships, our hometown team from Almonte District High School hit a small snag in their fundraising efforts and approached our team for support.

Having supported the team in the past, we gladly did what we could to make the trip to London’s Fanshawe College happen for the boys’ team. With support from our local community and from other organizations, the boys were on their way last week as the 3^rd-ranked team in the provincial tournament.

Taking the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by storm, the team at Next Supply has revolutionized how hydronics and plumbing supplies would be made available across this fast-paced region. By dividing the GTA into succinct zones based on neighborhoods and traffic zones, they have created a number of full-service locations across the region and have filled those locations with the very best industry talent in Toronto.

The result has seen the decentralized business model embraced by those who have come to love the company, the people and what makes them different from the rest.

The rugged beauty of the Canadian west is certainly something we will grow tired of any time soon and we were fortunate enough to experience it once again this year. Linking up with our partners at RecTec Industries located in picturesque Delta, British Columbia, they brought us a truly unique project at a local high school.

Located in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, this project brought us to Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School, also known as Tweedy by the local community. Established in the early 1940s, the school was founded on the principles of social responsibility and student achievement.

With enrollment numbers of well over 2,000 students, the school’s athletic department was looking not only for some outdoor bleacher seating for their sports field but also for a pair of highly customized spotter stands as well.

Anytime you are building something that is intended to host a large amount of people, safety should be at the forefront of your design plans. When it comes to bleacher seating, slipping is among the biggest and most important safety threats to account for during the design and manufacturing process.

Whether located indoors or outdoors, aluminum bleachers ultimately present certain safety hazards to the people who use them. For outside bleachers, with constant exposure to the elements and varying weather conditions, the risk for slippery surfaces is somewhat obvious. Wet surfaces, particularly those constructed of aluminum or steel, can quickly become hazards if not properly designed and treated. In fact, there are an estimated 8 million cases of injury related to slips and falls each year in the United States alone.

It's probably safe to say that we have all found ourselves sitting in some bleachers at one time or another in our lives. Sports and community events are deeply weaved into North American culture and cheering on our favourite team is a pastime we hold close to our hearts.

These large seating structures are found across sports fields, parks and recreational areas, and educational facilities. As our family members, teammates, classmates, friends and family hone their skills out on the field, ice or turf, we support them from the aluminum and steel bleachers that sit along the sidelines.

In addition to items such as handrails and guardrails, there is much that goes into the complex design of bleachers when it comes to safety. As nothing ruins an event more than an injury, our industry has spent decades perfecting our products to make them safer for all to use.