Home Show

This was the weekend for the home show, an event that usually brings out a good crowd in our town. Before we left the house, I had to promise to keep my credit card in my pocket and not to be conned into buying “another steam cleaner or something else you don’t need.”  I admit that over the years, I’ve bought orange-oil cleaner, jewelry cleaner, and yeah, a floor steamer – when I already had one. I think there’s something about the home shows’ two-day runs that makes everything seem more appealing, knowing we won’t be able to find some of these things again ‘til next year.  Something akin to those “sold only on TV” ads.

What gets me is that, aside from the occasional fundraiser shopping extravaganza, how many other times we have to pay for the privilege of looking at spas, patio covers, and paving stones? This year, we probably wouldn’t have gone had it not been for the complimentary tickets we received from one of the vendors. (This particular vendor sold a kind of long-last lipstick, and I’m still not sure how that figures into a home show.)

 We arrived at the event in the hottest, and usually busiest, time of day: Saturday afternoon. The large umbrellas with misters attached were helping to keep visitors a bit cooler as they walked around the outdoor living area, past yard-art chickens and other metal sculptures.

 As we approached, we were greeted by a young woman who wanted us to try samples of pulled pork that had been cooked on a pellet grill. She pronounced it “pooled pork” and, curiously, didn’t have many takers. She was followed by another woman offering samples of pizza, also grilled. Large women clutched large bags of caramel corn. Kids who had painted tiles in the Home Depot DIY pranced around in their own orange aprons, paint staining their hands, elbows and knees. 

We wended our way inside and were greeted by the first two displays: spiders for sale (great for keeping pesky garden pests away) and dress-your-own teddy bears. We saw a travel agent, a couple of wine merchants, and tables of chocolate-covered apricots; displays of roofing material, triple-pane windows, and security doors.  What we didn’t see were many people, aside from those hanging around the fast food stands.

 Most of the vendors sat listlessly at their tables, barely stirring themselves to look up from their laptops. This was a lousy weekend for the home show – it was competing with the county fair. The old story about poverty says people are more likely to spend their last dime on entertainment, and the fair apparently still outranks the home show for that.