Durham Home Show

Spring Is in the Air…

You can always tell when spring has arrived by the number of home and garden shows being offered! Before Judi and I started visiting festivals and events, we exhibited in a number of consumer shows. Two of them were, the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show (Click HERE to see article about this show) and the National Home Show. Both of them were held in the old Coliseum Building (now the Direct Energy Building). The Toronto Sportsmen’s Show was held at the end of winter, while the National Home Show was held at the beginning of spring! What always amazed me was, even though the shows were only a few weeks apart, the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show always seemed to have snow and cold weather while the National Home Show always seemed to be warm and bright! Go figure! I hadn’t been to a home and garden show in a long time, so when my daughter, Ainsley, told me that her company, Canada Brokerlink Insurance (Click to visit their website) had a booth at the Durham Home Show and that she was going to man it, I decided it was time to visit a home show! I decided to visit the show on opening day, Friday. I arrived mid-afternoon. The Home Show was being held in the McKinney Centre in Whitby. I met Ainsley at the front doors and then went in to purchase my ticket. It was now time to explore the Durham Home Show! Ainsley led the way!

Walking the Show (Part One)…

Ainsley and I entered the show floor and headed for the Canada Brokerlink booth. Ainsley is an insurance broker for Canada Brokerlink at their Newcastle office. She was manning the booth with her co-worker, Thea Trenholm. The show wasn’t too busy at this time, so Ainsley was able to slip away to help me explore the show, or at least part of it. The booth next to hers was the Four Seasons Sunrooms booth. Across from them was Arctic Spas – Durham. The good part of shows like this is all the great ideas you get for your home. The bad part of shows like this is all the great ideas you get for your home! We continued to explore the aisles stopping at several interesting booths along the way. The Durham Home Show features everything from “Spas” to “Sunrooms” and from “Happy Feet” to “University Painters”, plus there was food to purchase! Ainsley stopped at the Simply British Foods booth to check out their unique British products. While Ainsley was looking, I had the opportunity to talk with owner Paul Million. I explained why I was at the show and that I was from Cobourg. He told me that he was slated to have booths at both the Cobourg Highland Games (Click to read my Games article) and the Cobourg Waterfront Festival (Click to read my Festival article). If you are visiting either of the events, you should check out the Simply British Foods products. I had arrived late in the afternoon for the show, so Ainsley had only a little time she could spend exploring with me. She had to head home to pick up her children. Since her car was some distance away, I volunteered to drive her to it. After delivering Ainsley back to her vehicle, I returned to the Home Show. I had more to see!
The following is a list (Click on company name for website) of some of the booths we visited:
Canada Brokerlink
Four Seasons Sunrooms
Arctic Spas Durham
Alternative Creations
Square Footage Inc.
TWG Landscaping
Happy Feet
Simply British Foods
University First Class Painters
All Spa & Hot Tub Ltd (plus Awnings)
Bath Fitter
The Maids (Home Services)

Walking the Show (Part Two)

After dropping off Ainsley at her car, I headed back to the Home Show. I had promised my friend, Roger Wilson, that I would meet him back at the Edward Jones (See below for website) booth. Roger was manning their booth that afternoon. We talked for a while and then I continued my explorations of the show. The show took up two arena pads of the McKinney Centre. I competed walking the first pad and headed along the corridor to the second one. There were a couple of booths set up along the connecting corridor. I stopped at an interesting one that sold billiard supplies, Nelson Billiards (See below for website). From there I moved to the second pad and continued my journey. Here I discover more great home products. First up was the Hickory Dickory Deck booth (See below for website . I had met them at The Franchise Show (Click HERE to read the show article). Near them was The Solid Wood Bed & Table Company (See below for website). I walked through their booth admiring all their beautiful furniture! Down the aisle from them was a demonstration booth. A lady, Pamela Jackson, was standing there with no-one to demonstrate her products to. I asked Pamela if she needed a larger audience for a demonstration. She said “no”, so I asked her to show me how her products worked. I made a video of the demonstration (Click HERE to see Pamela demonstration). It was a very interesting product and worked exactly as she said it would! The Plasma Innovation Cookware (See below for website) was, indeed, a wonderful product! From the demonstration I moved to the final aisle. As I turned the corner I watched a man on a vibrating machine! He seemed to be really enjoying it. The booth was in the Profeet Inc. booth. The lady there explained that the machine burned fat and improved muscle strength. The machine is called the “VT 7 Vibration Technology. Check out their website to find out more (See below for website). At the far end of the aisle I passed a booth displaying Napoleon Barbeques. Next to them was another barbeque display, this time for Weber and Broil King BBQ’s. Just the thought of them made me want to hurry home to “throw a steak on the Barbie”! Actually, I had finished walking the Durham Home Show! With visions of sizzling steak “dancing in my head”, I raced to my car!
More names of booths visited (Click on company name for website):
Edward Jones
Nelson Billiards
Lite LED Signs Canada
Hickory Dickory Decks
Ideal Box
The Solid Wood Bed & Table Company
Plasma Innovation Cookware
Napoleon Gourmet Grills
Weber Barbecues
Broil King
Profeet Inc.
SaunaRay
QJS Specialty Cleaning Inc.