The Red Deer Home Show returned to Westerner Park this weekend.
The event, which has booths featuring home products and experts, began Friday, continued Saturday and wraps up Sunday.
Both Fall and Spring home shows were cancelled in 2021 due to COVID-19.
“It’s fantastic to be back,” said Carl Sauvé, KCB Cabinets & Renovations owner and president of BILD Central Alberta.
“I think the community really needed it. It’s a very important event for BILD and the members we have in the building industry.”
Two months ago, BILD executives met to decide if this show was going to be able to happen.
“We were going, ‘What do we do?’ There were still mask mandates and restrictions. We were asking, ‘Is it smart to go ahead with this?’ We decided the community needs this, the members need this and there was probably a pent-up demand for something like this in the industry,” Sauvé said.
After seeing other communities were going ahead with big events, BILD decided to move forward with the home show.
On March 1, the provincial government removed most COVID-19 restrictions, including no limits on public gatherings and mandatory masking at indoor public places.
“BILD is always going to follow what the government requires. We basically said we were going to put the show on, we were going to do it as safely as we can and whatever the government is requesting is what we’re going to do,” he said.
The event had about 200 booths, including some that joined last minute from other communities, such as Calgary, said Sauvé. Several thousand people have been through this year’s Red Deer Home Show, he added.
“We’re open to whatever anybody believes in. If somebody wants to wear a mask that’s totally fine and if they don’t that’s totally fine too.
“We’ve added more space this year, so people have more comfort walking through (the show) without feeling too crowded. It’s still important we’re keeping people safe here. I think we’ve achieved that.”
Sauvé said BILD Central Alberta is “excited for what 2022 is going to bring.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter