Josh Burgess

see psa @ end of post Laudisi Enterprises  celebrates the fifth anniversary of its stewardship of Kapp & Peterson this week. I don’t know if there will be cake and party hats, but I thought we might fill & light a fresh Pete, pour another cup of coffee & pause this morning to do our own celebration of Peterson’s accomplishments. In the spirit of The Pickwick Papers, one of my all-time favorite Charles Dickens books, I feel it positively obligatory to stand on my chair and offer, as the Pickwickians so love to do, cheers and three huzzahs— Cheers! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! As always occurs in Peterson’s times of “sea change,” there has been new vision, new passion and renewed commitment. All are evident from top to bottom and side to side in the climate and production of the company and the direction it’s taken since the summer of 2018.  In my role as amateur historian, I don’t pretend to understand the difficulties that have accompanied the transition, yet what I’ve witnessed is that Laudisi began very much in the “build the plane while flying” mindset popularized in a video you may remember from 2007:   This is not to downplay the achievements of the Dublin Era (1991-2018) under Tom Palmer, which I enjoy on a weekly basis in the incredible pipes I steward from that time. Even so, as I look back on the previous five years the facts speak over and again to how Peterson has pushed envelope in its commitment to excellence in its month-by-month innovations. So let’s take a look at thirty highlights that demonstrate just how much ground has been covered and what changes have been made effected in maintaining, refining and extending spirit of Charles Peterson’s original vision, contextualized in today’s marketplace and hobby. One caveat before we begin, however.  The dates given below have to do not so much with the  precise release date of a line or date of an event (like the return of in-house sandblasting), but when the line or event became public knowledge. And if I left out something important—and I probably did!—don’t hesitate to mention it in the comments so I can make a revision.   THIRTY HIGHLIGHTS 2018-2023   2018 July 19: Laudisi Enterprises acquires Kapp & Peterson (Post #99) It’s always been “a thing” to recall where you were when some epochal event occurred. For me one of the most significant came when Tom Palmer, then-CEO at Peterson, called me on my cell phone. I had just finished mowing the lawn and thought I was hallucinating from the heat. I recognized his voice but couldn’t figure out why he’d be calling me. It was simply to say that the following day K&P would announce it had been sold to Laudisi Enterprises and how happy he was that it was going to Laudisi, who, he said, understood pipes and the business better than anyone. How Laudisi acquired the company--in case you’ve forgotten or no one told you—was…