By Stacee Sledge
Over 100 area vendors are set to show visitors the latest and greatest in remodeling, construction, landscaping, and décor at this year’s Olympia Master Builders Big Home & Garden Show at Saint Martin’s University Marcus Pavilion this coming weekend.
Whether you’re knee-deep in a huge project or simply considering a fresh paint color for your bedroom, the Big Home & Garden Show will offer solutions, pique your interest, and get you dreaming of the possibilities.
Olympia Master Builders – a professional trade association representing over 600 member companies located in Thurston, Lewis, Grays Harbor, Mason and Pacific Counties – celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 and has been putting on its Big Home & Garden Show for nearly 30 years.
“It started at the South Sound Mall with just a few members setting up in the middle of the mall,” says Stacey Genzlinger, Olympia Master Builders Director of Member Services. “It’s grown and grown and has been at Saint Martin’s for 16 or 17 years now.”
The event typically pulls in crowds of 2,000-3,000.
The larger space means more complex displays, such as those created by landscaping vendors in the north parking lot outside Marcus Pavilion.
“We have a couple vendors who set up elaborate ponds and water features,” says Genzlinger. “Sunrise Landscaping is one of our sponsors and every year they come up with a different design of a full water feature. They’re beautiful. They build them in a day, they’re up for two days, and then they take them down.”
Gordon’s Garden Center will have a plant sale outside, as well, and food vendors will offers eats.
Inside the Pavilion, vendors will share information about everything from building, remodeling, HVAC, windows, roofing, and much more.
“One of our vendors, Accessible Living Concepts, specializes in aging in place, and has walk-in bathtubs for people who have limited mobility,” Genzlinger explains. “These tubs have special doors that seal behind you, letting you take your bath, drain the water, and then simply walk out.”
Lenders are also on hand to help guide folks looking for just the right budgeting solution.
Olympia Federal Savings has been with the Big Home & Garden Show for as far back as Marketing Director Sandy DiBernardo can remember – and she’s been with OlyFed for 27 years.
“In the past we’ve had some home show specials, like special CD rates,” says DiBernardo. “Generally we offer information about us and our products, and have giveaways.”
She says the meet-and-greet event is a great way to attract new clients and visit with current ones.
This year, Olympia Federal Savings will tell folks about its new Green Choice Lending Programs. After building its own LEED-certified building for its Belfair branch and working with Olympia-area green builders, the bank began looking into offering green loan products.
“We saw the way it’s important to people now, the environment and building green,” says OlyFed’s DiBernardo.
“Our Green Choice Lending Programs include a couple different loan options, says Debra Jackson, Vice President and Lending Manager at Olympia Federal Savings.
The first mortgage program is for energy-efficient home construction. “We allow the loan-to-value to exceed the normal 80 percent and can lend up to 85 percent without private mortgage insurance,” Jackson explains. A reduction is also given off the loan fee.
OlyFed’s energy-efficiency loan allows the monthly energy cost savings to be deducted from the monthly principal, interest, taxes, and insurance payment, which allows borrowers to qualify for a higher loan. Borrowers must provide OlyFed with a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) report showing a rating of 75 or less.
The second option is OlyFed’s second mortgage “retrofit” program for homeowners looking to upgrade or retrofit their home with more energy-efficient components. The entire loan fee is waived for these borrowers.
“We can lend up to 90 percent on this option with no private mortgage insurance. All loan proceeds must go toward upgrades and the borrower must use a licensed contractor to perform the work,” says Jackson.
And if you need a licensed contractors working in green building, look no further than the OMB Big Home & Garden Show, where many local builders and contractors who specialize in green building, remodeling, and products will be on hand to help guide you through this increasingly popular area of the industry, such as Scott Homes, South Sound Solar, Olympia Construction, and more.
Ross Irwin, owner of Cabinets by Trivonna, has been an OMB member since 2007, shortly after he and wife Trivonna opened their business. He’s been on the home show committee since 2008 and this year stepped in as Chair.
One of the first things he did in his new role was to add “dream again” to the agenda.
“With the recession, the home show had declined a bit over the past four or five years,” says Irwin. “So I asked the committee to think about things we could do to revitalize the home show.”
One new aspect of this year’s show is OMB’s Bark-A-Tecture and Catscapes partnership with Concern For Animals (CFA), an area nonprofit that helps with spaying, neutering, and adoption. CFA also provides an animal food bank.
“We reached out to our members to create a doghouse or cat tree,” explains OMB’s Genzlinger. “We’ll have these creations at the show and people can come vote for their favorite with their dollars. We’ll have a People’s Choice winner and the proceeds will go to CFA.
The doghouses and cat trees will then be auctioned off in November at CFA’s Toast For Tails auction.
Some of the structures are currently on view at Westfield Capital Mall in front of the Old Navy store and on display in the Schoenfeld building at the corner of State and Capital downtown.
Another new idea in the works is a home design contest for local high school students taking architecture classes. Students will submit home plans, and then build a scale model, which will be displayed at the Big Home & Garden Show.
Irwin also serves on the education committee for the Thurston Chamber of Commerce and pitched the idea to area superintendents.
The CTE (career technical education) directors were so excited by the idea – rules and details are still being finalized – that they have had students submit demos for this year’s show.
There will be no contest this year, but a booth of student design samples at this year’s show will be a taste of what’s to come.
“There have been a whole lot of changes but I can’t take credit for anything more than just saying, ‘Let’s dream again,’ and then knowing how to approach the school districts,” says Irwin. “The rest of it is everybody’s involvement – and Stacey has been very significant in helping me get everyone excited. We dreamed and the dream is becoming reality.”
Admission to this year’s Big Home & Garden Show is $5 (children under 12 are free) and parking is free. Everyone arriving between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on Saturday gets half off the price of admission. Active or retired military get in for half price all weekend long with valid military ID and Sunday is Senior’s Day, when all seniors can enter for just $2.50. Visit www.omb.org to download a coupon worth $2 off the price of admission.
A detailed schedule of speaker days and times is available at the OMB website at www.omb.org.
“Vendors are ready to help you with whatever projects you’ve been dreaming up,” says Genzlinger. “Now is a great time to get those started.”
Olympia Master Builder’s Big Home & Garden Show
Saturday, September 15th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saint Martin’s University Marcus Pavilion and Norman Worthington Conference Center
5300 Pacific Avenue SE
Lacey WA 98503
