The 27th annual Wellesley Home and Garden Show returns at the end of this month with nearly 100 vendors and everything you’ll need to get your home in tip top shape for spring.
Rick Grebinski, show coordinator with wife Brenda, says they’ll have companies who’ve become staples for the show, along with new ones.
“We’ve got Budget Blinds, it’ll be a window covering [company],” Grebinski said. “John’s Nursery is back. They were with us last year but they had a really nice display and he actually did well in sales so they’ll be back. Tropical Sunrooms is coming in. We’ve got a steel roofing company coming in. New Dundee Pottery, she’s moving into the arena. And she’s something to watch, she does actual displays and lessons at the show. She’s very, very popular.”
He said people will be able to find everything from farm tractors to lawn movers to kitchen gadgets. The show is run out of the Wellesley Arena and the Wellesley Community Centre. As in previous years, the Wellesley Lions Club will serve their BBQ dinners out of the community centre. The dinners are served from 5-7:30 p.m.
“We look after Wellesley, Woolwich, Wilmot, the surrounding areas including Stratford, and Kitchener-Waterloo. It’s a good little show. It’s well attended,” Grebinski said.
Roughly 2,100 people checked out the show over the three nights last year. They don’t charge admission; instead they collect food for the local food bank. They collected more than $1,000 and 1,400 pounds of food last year, which he says they’re always looking to improve on.
He says they continue to be a success because they’re well thought of by the community.
“If we weren’t well thought of we wouldn’t have been around for 26 years,” Grebinski said. “We’ve got a good following, word spread about the show.”
Everyone who attends can enter their name for nightly door prizes. Each vendor brings something for the door prizes.
“The visitors to the show always leave with a smile on their face,” Grebinski said. “Everyone who attends the show is given a ballot and they fill it out with their name and where they’re from. That gives me an idea where we’re drawing from. From those little ballots we drew from over 30 different communities in and around the Wellesley area.”
He said some people come from as far as St. Marys and Tillsonburg.
They never know in advance what the door prizes will be, but in the past they’ve had landscaping companies donate trees, and tractor companies give die cast models of tractors. Other companies donate company hats and shirts of gift certificates for their services. There are also specific door prizes for kids too.
Grebinski took over the show five years ago, when the previous show organizer got too busy with his seed company and asked if he’d take over the show. Grebinski had just recently retired and had experience in running this sort of thing.
“I thought you know what it’d be something different for me to do,” Grebinski said. “I really enjoy working with the vendors and the crowds. I’ve always been around people and I really enjoy it. Not to say it’s not challenging at times but I like it. It keeps me busy and it’s what I like to do. It’s become like my passion and I really take it to heart and try to do a better job every year.”
The show runs April 29, April 30, and May 1 from 5-9 p.m.
