New leader at helm of Home Show

February 22, 2013

For the first time in 18 years, the Home Show is being planned and hosted by the Owens Valley Contractors and Vendors Association. OVCVA President Dan Stone, second from the right at a past Home Show, is spearheading the association’s plans for a new and improved 2013 Home, Garden and Recreation Show. File photo

This year’s new spring Home Show planners are in the process of applying a fresh coat of paint to the event by combining a new focus with its traditional format.
There are all sorts of changes in the offing, Owens Valley Contractors and Vendors Association President Dan Stone said: Tri-County Fair planned the first 17 Home Shows – now it’s OVCVA’s baby. The show’s new name is Home, Garden and Recreation Show. And, the event is striving to be a bit more family-friendly, he said.
OVCVA is hosting the 18th Annual Home, Garden and Recreation Show on Friday, May 3, from 5-10 p.m., and May 4, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. in the Tri-Country Fairground’s Charles Brown Auditorium.
Stone said the OVCVA planning committee “has been working hard” since December. “Our Association is doing a great job in our community and the Home Show is our biggest challenge so far” in terms of the sheer number of people and amount of details involved.
The event had “been going backwards” in recent years, so “we’re planning to reinvent it, without taking anything from the traditional show.” He said that OVCVA is attracting new vendors and adding new demonstrations, including ones that appeal to all age groups.
Efforts to increase the family-friendliness of the 2013 Home, Garden and Recreation Show include the addition of live music, appropriate for all ages, on Saturday, Stone said, a bicycle safety check and discounted pet vaccinations.
Stone said that this event is a place for vendors to showcase their businesses, be they contractors, crafters, home improvement, remodeling, retail, renewable energy, nonprofits or otherwise. They “will have the opportunity to generate leads, make immediate sales, create product awareness and build relationships that will drive your business throughout the coming year,” according to the OVCVA.
Vendor lures include use of tables, chairs and electric; special sponsor offers and a free, OVCVA-hosted, pre-trade-show, spaghetti dinner at 6 p.m., April 25 at the fairground’s Tallman Pavilion. The special guest speaker, Kern Community College District Workforce Development Director Bob Hawkes, will discuss ways to most-effectively present businesses at trade shows.
According to Stone, many 2012 vendors will be returning and returning vendors will have first-rights to their 2013 home show space, he said.
“A lot of new vendors have committed, too,” Stone added, noting that new food vendors will also be making a premier showing.
“We know the Charles Brown is going to be full and there will be vendors on the outside, too.” Still, non-vendors are welcome to help out. “We need volunteers to help,” Stone said.
Stone expressed gratitude to event co-sponsor Suddenlink Communications and title sponsors, KIBS/KBOV and The Inyo Register, both of whom have been “loyal for 18 years.”
Stone said vendor applications will be available in Bishop this coming Monday, Feb. 25, at the Bishop Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, 690 N. Main St.; KIBS/KBOV, U.S. 395 south of town; and the Tri-County Fairground office at Sierra Street and Fair Drive.
For more information, contact Stone at (760) 920-8950 or danstoneovcva@gmail.com, or visit www.ovcva.org.