It takes a lot of work to get the Red Deer Home Show up and running.
“Set up starts first thing (Wednesday) morning. You’ll see a frenzy of activity down there starting right at 8 o’clock,” said Andrew Wiebe, president of BILD Central Alberta, which is hosting the event at Westerner Park this weekend.
“The big marquee booths will get in right away to set up … because you need the access. You’ve got to get your vehicles in to offload some of the bigger parts of the booth.
“Then the fill-in booths start coming in on Thursday. Typically, you’re seeing people setting up right until noon, when it opens on Friday.”
The three-day show will feature more than 280 booths. Wiebe said the booth space has officially been sold out.
“That hasn’t happened for a few years, which is awesome. Not only are we sold out, but the show is actually bigger this year – more booth space was opened up last minute because demand was higher. Even those extra booths are gone,” he said.
“I don’t exactly know what that means as far as the economy goes, but I’m excited about it. It’s been a tougher economy in town for the last four or five years, so to see something like that is really good news for the city and central Alberta.”
More than 10,000 people typically attend the event, Wiebe added.
“It tends to be that people think about renovations early spring and late fall. Those are the two heavy seasons for interior renovations – people getting ready for summer and people getting ready for Christmas,” Wiebe said, adding the event is about more than just interior renovations.
“A lot of exterior stuff has to be done in the summer. We’ve got a lot of landscaping companies that exhibit at the home show and garden centres. They appreciate the opportunity they can get in front of people early in the season.”
The event is an important weekend for a number of businesses, Wiebe said.
“This is going to be the 41st home show we’ve held. It’s been going a long time and it’s a big show for central Alberta. It’s one of the biggest shows that is hosted at the Westerner, after Agri-Trade.”
For more information, visit www.reddeerhomeshow.ca.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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