The 2007 N.Y.S. Highway & Public Works Expo is almost upon us. This year’s show will be held Wednesday, Oct. 17, and will again take place in the Verizon Center of Progress building on the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.

Beginning on page 60 in this issue, please find a listing of all the participating vendors — more than 120 of them! If you attend, please take some time to say ‘hello’ to as many as you can. It really is hard work for them to plan, set up and work these shows.

Of course there’ll also be the annual snowplow roadeo. Last year’s champ was the town of Bridgewater Highway Department, and we hope they’ll be there to defend their title.

A slew of valuable prizes and two grand prizes also are on the agenda. One lucky winner will land two grandstand NASCAR tickets for the Watkins Glen Race in August 2008, while another will win two tickets to see the Buffalo Bills play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Dec. 9, at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Of course, if you don’t win the Bills tickets, you’ll still be able to either watch the game on TV or contact the New England Patriots for their footage of it.

For me, the expo is a little like New Year’s Day. Around this time every year, I begin planning the next year of Profile articles and the show is an ideal venue to do that.

Last year, I met Don Chambers, highway superintendent of Cortland County, who expressed interest in being profiled, which he was in the June 2007 issue.

If you’re thinking that you’d like to be profiled, want to know about how it’s done, or if you’re a crew member who’d like to see your boss profiled, take a look at the picture at the top of the page and find me at the show, and I’ll work on getting that done.

We all look forward to seeing and meeting up with you again in Syracuse. P

This story also appears on Superintendent's Profile.