The summer preview and pre-season savings event featured free admission to the classes, demonstrations, outdoor living displays, hourly door prizes and marked-down products from six local business, as well as a chance to win a vacation.
These businesses included Buchwalter Greenhouse, B&K Concrete Construction, Fit 'n' Fun Pools & Spas, Keener Landscaping, Runions' Furniture and V.I.P. Travel.
"These are all local people, these are all Wayne County people that everybody knows," explained organizer Linda Runion of Runions' Furniture, noting that the six businesses came together to offer homegrown products to customers, including free refreshments and carryout ribs and chicken dinners from Mama Pearl's Soul Food of Orrville.
The event featured demonstrations of everything from how to create decorative stamped concrete by B&K Concrete Construction to a tutorial on water gardening by Bob Buchwalter of Buchwalter Greenhouse. Other classes included "LED: The New Standard for Night Lighting" by Scott Keener of Keener Landscaping, "Sunbrella -- The Hardest Working Fabric on Earth" by Jack Runion of Runions' Furniture, "Secrets to Beautiful Flowering Containers" by Tiffany Sustar of Buchwalter Greenhouse and "Creating a Backyard Habitat for Birds" by Ken Cochran of the Ohio Research and Agricultural Development Center.
"The whole idea behind the event is to get people thinking of summer and spring," explained Runion. "A lot of the products here, outdoor furniture for instance, are things you could order now so it comes in before the warm weather hits."
These items included anything from outdoor patio furniture and grills to gnome-shaped watering containers and multicolored gardening boots, as well as an abundance of flowers, plants, trees and herbs on display.
"To me it's like a burst of sunshine, I walked in this morning and you could smell the plants," said Runion.
Seeing those plants and other springtime items cheered everyone up, said Doug Hoffman of Fit 'n' Fun.
"It's a good time to get people out of the house. When people get cabin fever, they can come out and get some of these ideas going when it's still cold out. It kind of perks everyone up," he said.
Dennis and Nadine Landaw of Orrville were thinking along the same lines as they perused plants and other outdoor items.
"(The show) is small and compact and quick, you don't have to spend the whole day, but you get to see a variety of things. We're looking forward to summer days already," said Dennis Landaw.
"We came to prepare for spring and summer, we've gotten some good ideas," said Nadine Landaw, who also appreciated the show's variety.
Having such a wide array of products at a time when most greenhouses close their doors is just the idea of this show, explained Buchwalter.
"There are other shows (in Wayne County), but there's nothing in January," he said. "It's all tied into outdoor living -- when money is tight and people aren't traveling as much because of gas prices, we tend to spend more time in our backyards. We all have something to do with it, so we're bringing it all together to give people an idea of how to make over their backyards."
Buchwalter did so by offering plants and gardening demonstrations, while the other business owners and employees were on hand to answer questions about spas, outdoor fireplaces, landscaping, outdoor fabrics and more.
"It benefits the whole community, it's turned into a mini Home and Flower Show in the middle of winter," said Buchwalter. "We're halfway through winter already and it's a great way to come in, get out of the cold and see something green."
Reporter Kelley Mohr can be reached at 330-674-5676 or kmohr@the-daily-record.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment