For over three decades the Maricopa County Home & Garden Show touts itself as the Southwest’s largest, wooing Valley residents with hundreds of vendor booths and home improvement seminars.
Next weekend, May 5-7, it returns to WestWorld of Scottsdale with 1,000 vendors, a slew of classes and a celebrity appearance by David Bromstad, the host of the HGTV show “My Lottery Dream House.”
“When we sit down and talk about what makes the show fun, what makes it exciting what makes people want to attend and what would make us want to attend we started to think ‘let’s start bringing celebrities back to the show,’” said show manager Katie Jones.
“David Bromstad has been in the industry for nearly 20 years and I can’t even turn HGTV on without seeing ‘My Lottery Dream Home’ or (one of) David Bromstad’s other shows.”
Past shows have welcomed celebrities like Martha Stewart and brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott, better known as the Property Brothers.
“In bringing David to the show, there’s a whole group of people now who will get to experience the Maricopa County home and garden shows who maybe have never come to the show before simply because they’re fans of David,” Jones said.
“We’re excited to hear what he has to say and talk about and then guests get to take a picture with him.”
Jones emphasized that the show , spanning three buildings at WestWorld’s equestrian and special event space, will excite prospective, current and future homeowners.
“In addition to contractors, home shows are for everybody even if you don’t own a home but still want to get out and do something fun with your family we have something for you too,” Jones said.
Included in the lineup is an exhibition of tiny homes for patrons to tour, handmade craft workshops where guests can make crafts like candles and clay pottery and seminars discussing home improvement techniques.
Jones said it took a year and a half to plan the event and will take an army to ensure that the event goes off without a hitch.
“We’ve actually been planning the show for maybe 18 months now,” she said. “Within the last couple of months, it’s been all hands on deck. We’re a small office – there are seven of us – but every person in here is multitasking like you wouldn’t believe. There’s so much prep work involved.”
Among the prep work working with Bromstad’s agents to ensure he makes it, managing logistics so that booths fit comfortably into the expansive space and curating a lineup of five daily seminars.
However, the most arduous, but important, task was vetting each vendor to give guests the satisfaction that they are hiring professionals for their jobs around the house.
“Every one of our contractors here is going to be a local licensed contractor that we confirm with the Arizona Register of Contractors so that everybody coming into the show is licensed appropriately for what they’re going to be showcasing at the show,” Jones said.
“That way guests get to shop with the confidence that we’re backing your decision to hire them.”
Jones said the spacious layout of WestWorld provides the ideal space to plot it all-out.
“I remember living here when Westworld was just a pile of dirt but with what they have done to the buildings is so beautiful and the buildings are great for home shows,” Jones said.
“It’s such a beautiful area of the Valley and it’s set to the backdrop of the McDowell mountains so when you come into the show you’re already feeling this vibe and when you walk into the show, you’re greeted with these huge, beautifully built landscaping booths and it just all fits to where you are.”
Jones said the Scottsdale show typically draws between 25,000 and 30,000 patrons in part because of WestWorld’s accessibility.
With the final two of the five home and garden shows her team puts on annually still left this year, Jones said, “We want to grow, we always want to do better and we have a competition amongst ourselves and to make the next show different.
“So that way, when we charge admission for the shows …you’re getting something that you need and you’re getting something valuable. Although we charge for admission, it’s so much more than just shopping.”
If You Go:
Maricopa Home & Garden Show
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7
Where: WestWorld of Scottsdale, 16601 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale
Cost: $10
Info: MChomeshows.com.
