The Lepaa Exhibition is the largest professional gardening event in the Nordics. It’s organized annually in August at Lepaa campus area. During the event, one is able to meet and network with professionals and experts from all corners of the professional gardening field. In addition to the latter, one gets to know the new products showcased in the exhibition.
The event is organized by Finnish Glasshouse Growers Association together with the Students Association of Lepaa, Häme University of Applied Sciences and Häme Vocational Institute The Student Association’s responsibility is building the entire event space, traffic management, part of the food courts, cleanliness of the area and beautification.
Lepaa-exhibition would not be possible without the contribution of students. The volunteering students receive credits for their volunteering hours, and they are the easiest and most enjoyable credits ever! The exhibition is the most important source of income to the Student Association, and because of the students volunteering, the membership of the Student Association is completely free of charge. The Student Association is also able to organize events and services to Lepaa’s students with the earnings from the exhibition.
The exhibition chair and the exhibition secretary organize the event from the student associations side. They have the help of responsibles who lead their own volunteer teams:
- ISKU volunteers team
- Service & Maintenance Team (deliveries, cleaning)
- The Maid's Team (Food and catering)
- The Host's team (parking and traffiking)
- The Household Team (beautification)
- The Book Cafe team (Wheel of Fortune, Café and Book sales)
The exhibition was organized for the first time in 1964 carrying the name ”Puutarha-alan rationalisointipäivät” (Rationalizing days of Professional Gardening). This is why people still talk about ”ratidays” when speaking of Lepaa exhibition. In 1986 the name was changed to ”Puutarhatekniikka” (Gardening technology). On the 40th anniversary year in 2004 the name was changed to ”Lepaa”.
