The Chicago International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market™ in September will go on record as being a key factor in distinguishing Veranda Classics by Foremost as a major player with both indoor and outdoor specialty retailers looking for innovative marketing strategies and creative designs with mass appeal. Danny Jelley, senior…

HNI Corp. and its Hearth & Home Technologies business have acquired Vermont Castings Group, a leading manufacturer of freestanding hearth stoves and fireplaces. Vermont Castings Group has annual revenue of approximately $100 million.

Stan Askren, chair, president, and CEO of HNI Corp., says, “We’re excited about Vermont Castings Group…

RH Peterson Company (City of Industry, California) recently added a 2015 S2G box truck from Freightliner, fueled by clean-burning LP, to its delivery fleet. Tod Corrin, executive vice president of RH Peterson, says, “This is a first-ever factory purpose- built, medium-duty, propane box truck. This purchase speaks to RH Peterson’s…

Innovative Hearth Products (IHP), manufacturer of Astria, IronStrike, and Superior brand fireplaces, stoves, inserts, and accessories, held a grand reopening ceremony for its Russellville, Alabama, facility in late October. The ceremony commemorated the company’s renovation and expansion of the facility, which involved a 14-month, $14-million investment that has resulted in…

Dan Maddox, a veteran of the hearth industry, passed away on September 30, 2014, in Centerville, Ohio, after an extended illness. He was 87. He founded The Maddox Company in Columbus and Products Marketing Group in Dayton.

In 1989, Maddox founded a manufacturing business designing and producing outdoor firepits…