Saturday's Skowhegan Home Show will highlight area businesses
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The Skowhegan Home Show, which highlights area home and landscaping business, is hosted by Main Street Skowhegan. Kristina Cannon, executive director, said the purpose of the show is as much to raise awareness about local businesses as it is to connect specific businesses with customers.
After taking a year off, the Skowhegan Home Show — which gives a boost to the region's home and landscaping businesses — will be back Saturday, at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds.
The home show, hosted by Main Street Skowhegan, debuted in 2017, but took last year off after the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife picked Skowhegan as the location for the Maine Moose Permit Lottery, and the organization built a weekend event around it.
"We didn't have the capacity to do both events," said Kristina Cannon, executive director of Main Street Skowhegan.
Some 24 vendors will be featured at show, and the industries featured aren't limited to home and landscaping, but also included banks, real estate agencies and other related industries. Those presenting so far include Aerus, Allied Realty, A. Reynolds Roofing, Bangor Savings Bank, CE Painting, Cousineau Wood Products, Edward and Jones, Franklin Savings Bank, Hammond Lumber, Hearth and Home Realty, Hight Family of Dealerships, Kyes Insurance, Lynch Landscaping, Maine Roof Solutions, Mainely Water, Nickerson Yard Maintenance, Old Hickory Buildings/Charlie & Son, Re/Max At Home, Renewal by Andersen, Short Circut Electric, Skowhegan Savings Bank, Sleep Number, Bangor; The Breathable Home, Whittemore Real Estate.
Cannon said the idea originally came from one of Main Street Skowhegan's board members, who noted that the area has a number of home building/improvement and landscaping businesses. "So our goal is to support these businesses by bringing prospective customers to them — all in one place — and helping to generate awareness for their products and services," she said.
"In addition to connecting businesses with new customers, we hope the home show will help grow awareness for all of the products and services that our area businesses have to offer," Cannon said. "The home show is intended to support locally owned businesses and help them grow — which in turn will strengthen the Skowhegan economy. "
She said it's as much about spreading awareness of what's available as catering to people shopping for a specific vendor or service. "I hope that people attend the event and learn about our local businesses that they perhaps didn't know about," she said. "In 2017, there were very few transactions made on the day of the show. It was more about making connections. Businesses were able to showcase their products and services and make the case to the prospective customer that they should give their business a shot.
"We had a number of vendors who felt that the home show was a big success because they got new customers after the fact — people they made connects with at the show. Even though a contract wasn't signed on the day of the event, the home show served as a first step in building a client-business relationships."
The show, which is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., also will have food vendors and beer tent, both of which will be open for the duration of the show.
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