Fixing up house? Home Show has it all

By Pat Cahill

03/28/2008- The Republican

The Original Western Massachusetts Home and Garden Show is one of the highlights of spring for people interested in home improvement.

This year's edition of the show, the largest of its kind in New England, starts today at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield and continues through Sunday.

Hours are 2 to 9 p.m. today, 1 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $10, $9 for seniors and free for children under 12. Parking is $5. Discount coupons are available at www.westernmasshome

show.com and other media outlets.

About 400 exhibitors are spread out over three buildings and an outdoor exhibition area, covering about three acres in all.

Their booths feature everything from swimming pools to log homes, ceilings to floors, windows to wells, gravel to furniture, decorators to electrical contractors - and bankers who can help figure out how to pay for a place to put them.

Among the most popular features of the Home Show are the cooking demonstrations, performed live by chefs in the kind of kitchen home cooks dream about.

Another popular display is the Flower and Garden Showcase, in which fresh blooms and trickling water reassure visitors that spring is indeed on the way.

The Sherwin Williams Interior Design Showcase, which shares the Stroh Building with the gardens, offers a chance to see how professional designers put together a room. The other buildings in the show are the Better Living Center and the Young Building.

The non-profit ReStore Home Improvement Center in Springfield has returned with its Tent Sale and its examples of the top-quality used and surplus items it sells. Adding to the festive air of the show are prizes, including a trip to New York City to sit in the audience of the "Rachael Ray Show."

The Original Western Massachusetts Home and Garden Show has been presented for 53 years. It is sponsored by the Home Builders of Western Massachusetts.