PORT ANGELES — Summer construction and home improvement season is just around the corner and the Clallam County Home and Lifestyle Show will offer more information and exhibits than ever.
Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the free show in the Port Angeles High School gymnasiums, 304 E. Park Ave. Parking will be available in the student parking lots in the 200 and 300 blocks of East Park Avenue.
As in past years, a free shuttle will take visitors from the parking areas to the show.
The annual home improvement show is a bazaar of contractors and suppliers, service providers and recreational opportunities.
The Home & Lifestyle Show is a showplace for businesses on the North Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere to display their services and for prospective customers to gather information for spring and summer plans.
Home improvement businesses will be on hand to offer information on gutters, bathroom fixtures, blinds, windows, roofing, lawn care equipment, and heating and cooling systems.
About 150 exhibits are planned, according to KONP Sales Manager Stan Comeau. Exhibit spaces have been pretty much sold out since about Thanksgiving.
Last year, organizers broke from the norm and expanded exhibit space into the concessions area outside the gym, he said. That’s the plan for this year, also.
The largest exhibit is probably Hartnagel Building Supply, Comeau said. New this year will be a shed vendor exhibiting a few of his units outside the school.
KONP opens the exhibition invitation to anyone, with first dibs going to advertisers and then businesses from Clallam County and the surrounding area, he added.
The 35-year show attracts between 7,000 and 10,000 visitors annually.
Comeau said the show tends to be “something people spend some time at,” as getting there takes a little effort.
While the past few shows have taken place during rainy weather, Comeau said it might be “just right” for the home show this weekend. He noted that if it’s too rainy, people stay home. If it’s 60 degrees and sunny, area residents often find something else to do.
It’s not unusual, he said, to see couples enter the show and split up so they can go see what they need to.
Early visitors to the show will receive free reusable shopping bags. Comeau advises attendees who like the bag — a green one this year — to arrive early because supplies are limited.
Organization for the show started last March, according to the show’s website, immediately following last year’s successful offering.
The transformation of the Port Angeles High School gymnasiums from athletic facility to Clallam County Home & Lifestyle Show venue actually starts the Thursday night prior to the event.
Volunteers from a number of service organizations help provide manual labor.
The primary effort involves protecting the school’s hardwood basketball courts, according to show organizers.
Enormous vinyl mats are carefully placed and attached to the maple surface with a special adhesive tape to protect the finish. Mats go into the east gym Thursday night and the older Roughrider gym gets a vinyl surface Friday morning.
Once the floor work is completed, professionals start building booths, hanging curtains and rolling out carpets, while local electricians connect a series of long cables to provide each exhibitor with power.
When the show closes Sunday afternoon at 4, the cleanup work begins. The scene outside the gymnasiums becomes almost chaotic, as most of the exhibitors begin dismantling their booths and loading up equipment for the trip home.
Organizers say a steady flow of vendors with dollies and carts streams through the exit doors, heading for limited loading space in the parking lot.
The west gymnasium must be cleared Sunday night to be ready for use by physical education students Monday morning.
For more information, including a full list of participants and a map of their locations at the show, go to www.cchomeshow.com.
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Assistant Managing Editor Mark Swanson can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55450, or mswanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
