Russ Woelke, Towmaster Trailers regional sales manager, stands ready to answer customers’ questions.

On Aug. 18th Nortrax celebrated the grand opening of its new flagship store in Merrill, Wis. Leading off the day was a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Merrill Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Bill Bialecki, along with Max Guinn, president of John Deere Worldwide Construction & Forestry; David Thorne, John Deere senior vice president of worldwide construction and forestry sales and marketing; Dale Gessell, Nortrax vice president; and Matt Hanson, Nortrax general manager.

More than 650 guests attended the event, which included tours of the new 30,000 sq. ft. facility. A large demonstration area on the property was set up so customers could run the latest models of John Deere construction and forestry equipment like the 672G motorgrader, 744K wheel loader, 245G excavator, 750K Smart Grade dozer, and the 1210G forwarder with intelligent boom control. A special technology machine monitoring booth was on display with Jim Bell and Rob Newman, Nortrax product support technology representatives, demonstrating John Deere WorkSight features like JDLink telematics and TimberNavi, a fully integrated jobsite mapping solution for loggers.

Lunch was served and door prizes were given out throughout the day. Merrill resident, Paul Hendrickson, won the grand prize, a John Deere toy gator, donated by John Deere Financial, and another Merrill resident, Lee Gille, won a Yeti cooler, donated by Waratah. In addition, Nortrax vendors — TopCon, Little Falls, Towmaster, Okada, DeClean, and Pomps Tire — also participated with booths and door prizes for attendees.

Guinn and Gessell both addressed the crowd at lunchtime. They spoke about the anticipation of unveiling the impressive facility to Nortrax customers and the community, as well as their confidence in the Wisconsin business climate and how for more than180 years, John Deere has stood for integrity, quality, commitment and innovation.

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