Warm spring days may seem far away, but Mary Eileen O’ Sullivan of St. Charles has a new house in Geneva that is full of home improvement projects waiting to happen.
“We bought a house in Geneva that we’re working on. We have a lot of stuff we want to do and our son-in-law is helping a lot already,” Sullivan said at the Kane County Home Show Saturday morning in St. Charles. “We have a contractor and right now we’re looking at windows and doors and exterior stuff.”
Sullivan was among the thousands who flocked to the show over the weekend at the Kane County Fairgrounds.
Show manager Matt Ward said the event has been held for at least a decade in St. Charles, having begun at Pheasant Run and then moved to the fairgrounds.
Ward said a lot of those attending have the same mindset as Sullivan.
“A lot of people are thinking about the spring and projects that they want to complete once the weather does break,” he said. “The most popular things at the last show were kitchen and bathroom remodeling – that was number one. People are always looking at windows, roofing and siding.”
Ward noted that some of the more interesting things at the show this year included hot tubs, as well as adjustable beds and massage chairs. A food truck was also added this year.
“We have about 135 vendors here this weekend which is slightly higher by about 10% as compared to last year,” he said during the event. “Last year, we had 8,000 people come to the show.”
“It really a one-stop thing as its gives people an opportunity for those looking to have home improvement projects done on their home,” he said. “They can actually talk to the experts and get their ideas and they can show pictures of their home or their project space and get a rough idea if the contractor can help or not.”
Those attending Saturday included a number of first-time visitors including vendors.
Sean Linnihan, who was representing Universal Windows Direct, based in Buffalo Grove, said this was the first time the company has been at the show in Kane County and hoped that he might have about 30 appointments throughout the weekend.
“There are other home shows but our company has a pretty good history with this home show at other locations and our sales have been pretty good,” he said. “Also, the event staff here are a joy to work with.”
Matt Acker of Elburn said he has come to the show before and while he had no specific plans, he was happy to once again check things out.
“This is our third or fourth time coming to this and we’re just happy to look around,” Acker said. “We did windows two years ago from here. I know you can find contractors and everything else here and that’s what we did two years ago when we did the windows here. I think there’s a good selection here and a lot of different vendors – a variety you can choose from including kitchen options, window options. They’re not stuck on just one company. There are definitely new products, new ideas.”
Liz Gunner of South Elgin said this was the first time she and her husband Mike came to the show and that the couple was looking at a landscaping project.
“We are looking at spring projects and want to do a patio, a deck and planting. We need trees and shrubs and flowers,” Liz Gunner said. “We like that everything is here and it’s wonderful to meet the contractors that we’d be working with.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
