by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The 2010 Fall Home & Patio Show opens today at the Osborn Center. More than 400 vendors are displaying products for the inside and outside of both new and not-so-new homes.
Show Manager Hillary Lyons said a recent report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies indicates that consumer spending to remodel homes will increase by 5 percent in 2010 compared to 2009 and should increase by double digits by the first quarter of next year.
“Homeowners are falling into one of two categories,” said Lyons. “There are those who have recently gotten a great deal and purchased a home they want to remodel and those who have had their home on the market for quite a while and have made the decision to remodel it and stay.”
Monty Anderson Construction Group built a 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom home inside the convention center. It is fully furnished and decorated and has a landscaped backyard with a pool.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever had a real home with a real patio exhibited at the show,” said Lyons.
The average attendance for the fall show is 36,000 people over the four-day event, but based on the number of visitors at the spring show, Lyons won’t be surprised if the fall show is above average.
“We had 43,293 guests when we were here in March. That was an all-time record for the 42-year history of the show,” she said.
In addition to every type of home improvement and lifestyle product on the market, the show also features the Publix Apron’s Cooking Stage and home design presentations by Andrew Downward of HGTV’s “Divine Design.”
Show hours are noon-9 p.m. today and tomorrow, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. For ticket information and the complete schedule of events, visit www.jacksonvillehomeshows.com.
356-2466