New site

draws crowds

to Home Show

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Blame a rainy weekend or a change of venue for the attendance at the Home and Self-Improvement Show.

After selling, explaining, shaking hands, joking and demonstrating from start to finish, this year's version packed up its displays, brochures, free candy and giveaway drawings and went back to work after the show closed Sunday afternoon.

Organizers again said they felt the 2004 version was successful because of a larger space -- the hockey arenas at New Ulm Civic Center -- and two days of rainy weather.

The show was organized by the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce 24 years ago to promote area businesses, and, as Chamber President Jeanne Albrecht said, " to provide citizens and the community with a one-stop shop."

Two rainy days meant putting off any planned outdoor activities and helped give the show's attendance a boost.

"A lot of people aren't at home working on their yards, so they're coming here," said Jenny Eckstein, a Chamber employee who was staffing a booth.

The expanded space allowed the show's organizers to clear a few spots on their waiting list for 2004.

"We've had long waiting lists in the past, so it's nice to do a bigger show," said Eckstein.

New Ulm's Larkspur Market was one of those new exhibitors. Connie Paulson, a Larkspur employee, saw a number of showgoers who said they had never heard of the business and asked her for the shop's address.

"I think it's really great to have that exposure," Paulson said. "It's been so much fun seeing people who live in New Ulm that you don't get to talk to very much, so it's been a joy being out here."

Tom Strenge, owner of Tommy Guns Paintball, has come to the Home and Self-Improvement Show for the past three years. He also said he saw steady stream of people coming past his booth.

"This is a unique booth. It doesn't matter what age people are," he said. "Kids will come by and look because they see the guns, but we also get elderly people who are curious because their grandkids are into it."

Strenge also said he noticed this year's attendance was "quite a bit better" and that more people spent money at this year's show than last year.

"Last year, on Friday, it was the first day of the bombing in Iraq and so a lot of people stayed home to watch that," Strenge said.

While some came to the show just to browse, others came to catch up with friends and some more came to look seriously at home improvement products.

Brenda Camacho of New Ulm said she came back to the Home Show with her son on Sunday because her son wanted to see more of the exhibits and the workshops that afternoon.

"There's so much to see that you really need more than one day," Camacho said. "It's much larger than last year and I like the new location."

Albrecht said the fact that people socialized at the show is a sign that it was "a definite success. You can see all the people milling around and visiting with the exhibitors and working cooperatively together."

Albrecht and Eckstein said estimating the overall number of people who went to the show is tough because the Home Show is always one that has no admission, so the number of people who come through the doors is almost impossible to count.