Harter Equipment held a 40th Anniversary Open House May 5 at its Hightstown, N.J., facility.

A combination of great weather and strong relationships with its customers made for a very well attended event. Hundreds of long-time and new customers, close friends and new acquaintances enjoyed a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon to help Harter Equipment formally celebrate four decades in business.

Activities abounded during the celebration. A backhoe rodeo, sponsored by John Deere Credit, featured three events. Rick Mullen of PM Construction Corp. in Hillside, N.J., took first place and won an iPod. Miguel Seixeiro of S&G Paving Inc., Monroe N.J., finished in second place. And Dan Moran of Mycon LLC, Jamesburg, N.J., came in third.

Harter made certain that while parents enjoyed the big toys, their children had plenty to keep them busy, too. Whether it was romping around in a bouncy castle, creating sand art, throwing balls though tires, operating a mini Kubota in a small scale rodeo event, or circling around a little course in a tiny John Deere vehicle, kids easily kept occupied during the approximately four-hour event.

Exhibitors also came out in droves. Under a large tent staked in the middle of the open house were 14 manufacturers and their representatives: John Deere, Kubota, MBW, Rayco, Gehl, Kobelco, Kawasaki, CEAttachments, CAM, Kent Demolition, Interstate, Geith, Helac and MDS.

The Kubota Road Show tractor also made a stop in honor of Harter Equipment’s business milestone.

Guests also participated in a Chinese auction in which many prizes were awarded, including two $100 Home Depot gift cards, a Kubota pedal tractor, 40th Harter Equipment 40th Anniversary jackets, golf putters, shirts, caps, a BBQ tool set and much more.

The grand prize was a Hitachi 42-in. plasma HDTV, which went to Baron Yeager of Baron Yeager Excavating, Mercerville, N.J.

Seth Harter founded Harter Equipment in 1967 because, as he put it, “I felt that I could do just as good a job, if not better, than the people whom I had been working for, North Jersey Equipment Company.”

While working as a sales representative for North Jersey Equipment, Seth began a “research program.” During his research, he determined that if he could land John Deere, he was going into business for himself. He did and over the years, he has added Kubota in 1972, Interstate Trailers in 1988, Kobelco in 1998, Rayco in 1999, Kawasaki in 2001 and Gehl in 2004.

Harter attributes his company’s success to a simple, but not always easy to achieve, recipe. “It’s a combination of a good product, good relationships with your customers, good employees and hard work,” he said.

And to all the people who have helped him and his company succeed for four decades and to those who helped him celebrate the milestone May 5, Harter said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for your loyalty and sticking with the company through both the good times and the hard times.”

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