A fall show allows local businesses a chance to meet the public on more personal level, says a local business owner.
The first ever Fall into Winter show had more than 130 exhibits stationed around the Sports Dome. The weekend-long show, which started on Friday, featured a variety of exhibits from solar panels to Christmas decorations.
Cathy McCauley has owned Elegant Impressions for the past 15 years. She said she was having a fantastic time at the show and was grateful to have an exhibit during the fall to show off some of the Halloween decorations as well as meet some new customers.
“This is great exposure and it’s really excellent for one-on-one contact with the consumers,” McCauley said. “Every year we do the home and garden show in the spring time and we were quite excited when they said they were going to be doing a fall and winter show. It’s extremely important to support local businesses. I know as a local business owner I can employ local residents and it supports the local economy.”
Noreen Kivi shared McCauley’s feelings about keeping money within the community. Kivi decided to look around at the show to see if there were any opportunities for home renovations.
She said enjoyed supporting local businesses and supporting the local economy.
“I earn my money here and I would like to help people do the same,” Kivi said. “I want to stay local.”
Show co-chair Bruce Carli said they were able to put on the show with the help of the Sports Dome and the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition. He said they wanted to have a show similar to the one held in the spring because there had not been a show held at this time of the season before.
“I think the big draw is people see what they are going to be doing this winter and they can come here and find out more about recreation and what they want to do for their winter project,” Carli said. “The standout part of this is probably the timing. This is probably the only show that we have in the fall. I think this gets people out of their houses over the weekend before we go into the winter season.”
The show wraps up at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
