It isn’t something Darcy Hope could have predicted when he began booking exhibitors four months ago, but as it turns out the 2016 Home Expo at Pearkes Community Centre couldn’t have been better timed.
There’s nothing like the wild West Coast weather we’ve been experiencing to get homeowners thinking about taking better care of their most precious asset.
“If someone has a leaky roof, this is when you’re going to find out,” said Hope, whose Parksville-based company Evergreen Exhibitions Ltd. is presenting Victoria’s 31st annual fall building, renovation and decor show.
“People tend to make sure the money they spend on their house is the right money, because it’s usually the biggest purchase or investment they’ll make in their lifetime.”
The show manager, who stages three such exhibitions in Victoria each year, including one in late February at Pearkes, and a big April show at Westshore Parks and Recreation, says their popularity keeps on growing.
The free-admission event that began Friday afternoon and continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, showcases goods and services provided by 150 vendors from Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Alberta.
Roofers, painters, home renovators, kitchen and bathroom remodellers, plumbers and drainage experts, window installers, and heat pump and fireplace providers are among the exhibitors you’d most expect to find.
As you wander past a massive hot tub the size of a small swimming pool, a station with intermittent healthy gourmet cooking demonstrations, a booth that offers “eye-lifting solutions” and Botox alternatives, and another where a grotesque lump representing “five pounds of body fat” helps you consider buying a weight-loss protein product, it soon becomes clear this show is about more than drainage, home insulation and other issues.
One popular spot, ostensibly targeting do-it-yourselfers with aches and pains and anyone seeking stress relief, was the Casada station where a row of motorized therapeutic massage devices could be tested.
And while a Moose Jaw-based company that sells hand-crafted fashion and costume jewelry might seem out of place at a home show, Maria Thomsen was happy to explain why it isn’t.
“We do all the home shows on the Lower Mainland,” the Vancouver-based jeweller said. “We find that when men are out looking for renovation projects, women are looking for something else to look at.”
Some products at such exhibitions practically sell themselves, especially those you won’t find at many home-improvement stores, like the Smart Living Steam Mop Plus.
“The home show is essential to our business, because this is how we sell our product,” said Ocean Sales representative Heather Stewart. “People like the aspect of them not using chemicals.”
Stewart is demonstrating the direct sales company’s lightweight product that uses high-temperature steam to clean and sanitize vinyl, wood, tile and laminate floors (and carpets), and explains what sets it apart.
“There’s lots of fun stuff here that people don’t often get to see in stores,” said Hope, attributing the show’s popularity in part to consumer desire to access a multitude of products and services in one location.
One item he knew would be popular this weekend was the Guttermaster wand, an extendable pole that can reach up to two storeys with a garden hose attachment to flush gutters and clean windows and vinyl siding.
“It makes it easy to clean your gutters really fast,” said Hope, adding that anyone with storm-related questions would find no shortage of experts at this weekend’s show.
“There are lots of people here who could help with moisture-sensitive areas of your home and answer questions about things that could end up leaking or causing other problems in this type of weather.”
