By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The late arrival of spring and the onset of cabin fever proved to be good for the Kiwanis Home, Garden and Recreation Show this year, held at the Forum April 21 and 22.
“The show went very well. We were very pleased,” said Kiwanis President Diane Green.
Green said despite the beautiful weekend, folks still took time to take in the show.
“We had a good turnout. Saturday’s figures ran about the same as the first day of last year’s show. Sunday’s numbers were a bit off, but that had a lot to do with the beautiful weather we had,” said Green.
Exhibitors were very pleased with the turnout and contacts they had, according to Green. By the looks of the collection jar at Homeless Services of Aroostook’s booth early Saturday, public support went well.
“We had bills in varying denominations, as well as change, dropped in our collection jar,” said Susan Mitchell, executive director of the homeless shelter.
No figure was available at press time on the amount collected.
Green said to keep the show interesting, organizers focused on getting a wide variety of displays, including the Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum, Spinney’s Color Center, the Presque Isle Fire Department’s safety training trailer, Haney’s Building Specialties, Innovative Landscape Designs LLC, Greg’s Home & Leisure, McCluskey’s RV Center, Hayden Perry Insurance, D & M Trailer Sales of Medway, Print Works and many more.
“We had tractors from both MPG and Crown Equipment, the Presque Isle Chamber of Commerce sold strawberry shortcake, Rathbun Lumber had a display. TAMC had an interesting interactive display that allowed youth to dig for eggs. We really had something for everyone,” said Green.
While many participants enjoyed the freebies offered at many of the booths, at least one booth hoped to find some volunteers.
“We had some people express interest in signing up for some of our committees,” said Nancy Chandler, on behalf of the Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum.
Based in Caribou, Chandler said the proposed museum received a lot of interest and donations during the two-day event.
Vendors from outside Aroostook County had good luck at the show as well.
“We’ve gotten about eight solid leads. This is only the second year we’ve done this. We were impressed with last year’s turnout and thought we’d check out this year’s show,” said Joshua Labonte, sales specialist for KBS Building Systems of South Paris.
All funds from the show, said Green, go toward various Kiwanis charities.
“By attending, people are donating to good causes,” explained Green.
This was the show’s 24th endeavor. Next year will mark a major milestone for Kiwanis, as the show celebrates its 25th anniversary.
“It’s an evolving show, based on vendor availability. There are so many hours of work involved with each show. It takes quite a long time to do this – all volunteer hours. Next year will be our 25th and will be bigger and better than ever,” said Green. “We’re excited about it.”
