Frances Marton said she and her husband, Arpad, have been coming to the annual home show for years.
She had a reusable grocery sack full of freebies during the first day of the show Friday at the Porter County Expo Center, including a light bulb, and her husband, a pencil tucked behind his ear, said he liked the free pencils and candy.
“We are interested in a generator because in the high wind the other day; our power was knocked out,” Frances Marton said, adding the power was down for eight hours and while the Valparaiso couple has a generator, it’s too small for the whole house and doesn’t kick on automatically.
The couple looked at sunrooms when they came to the show for several years before buying one from a vendor last year. They’ve also found windows for their home.
“When you do see something you’re interested in, you can actually look at it and talk to someone and not be committed like in a store,” Frances Marton said, adding she liked the no-pressure feel of the show.
The show is offering free admission in honor of its 40th anniversary, said Vicky Gadd, executive officer of the Northwest Indiana Home Builders Association, and also underwent a name change.
Over the years, the event has been a home and garden show, and then a home and lifestyle show, and is now a “home improvement market.”
“We decided to just go back to our roots, and it’s home improvement,” Gadd said, adding 100 vendors, mostly association members, are showing their wares at the show.
The event, which continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, draws 2,000 to 3,000 people a year, depending on the weather.
“That helps us because if it’s too nice out, everybody wants to be in their yard but this is something they can do indoors,” she said.
Brian Lautenbach, a manager at Goetz Landscaping in Valparaiso, said this is his company’s fifth year at the show. He likes that it draws local people and local companies, and it often generates follow-up calls from the business.
“Usually it’s a follow-up we do to gauge how interested people are, or aren’t,” he said, adding he also networks with other businesses for referrals if someone wants a job his firm can’t do.
For Ruth Cozza, of Valparaiso, a first-time visitor, the event was a place to get ideas and an education.
“I want to re-do my kitchen so I’m looking for ideas and to learn about floors and countertops,” she said, adding she started first at local stores but realized she needed more information before she began to shop. “There’s so many different (companies) here. It’s all under one roof.”
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
