Thousands show up to Southeast Alberta Home and Leisure Show

Business owner Kris Kautz sold vacuums and air purifiers at the trade show this weekend.

“We had to scramble to get more cleaning samples after the first day,” Kautz said.

Kautz attributed the trade shows success is owed to businesses being able to meet the client face to face.

“It’s tough to get a personality across in a newspaper or a Facebook ad,” Katuz said.

“Unless you’re really good at social media and have a million TikTok followers, it’s really hard. That’s not me,” he said.

“Having something like this means a tremendous amount to my business and there’s no other way I could do it.”

Vendors like Carleen Schaan from the Medicine Hat Drag Racing Association said that the trade show provides a unique opportunity to raise awareness for different clubs.

“We have had so many people stop by and it’s been so good to talk to everybody,” Schaan said.

“A lot of people didn’t even know we had this here so close to Medicine Hat,” she said.

“It’s really been awesome to see the turnout here.”

Martial artists like Mark Pellerin from Fire Dragon Taekwondo said it presented an opportunity to engage to potential students of all ages.

“The trade show has been excellent,” Pellering said,

“The Chamber has done an incredible job organizing the events,” he continued.

“We’ve come here multiple years, so we’re very happy with how it’s turned out.”

“Halfway through, we’ve already had close to 30 people book their first class.”

Advocacy groups also found value in the trade show as well.

Bow Island Mayor Gordon Reynolds was there advocating for the twinning of highway 3 and said that it gives a chance for people to vocalize concerns one-on-one instead of in a group setting.

“We’ve done some virtual town halls that were relatively well attended, mainly by people directly on the route,” Reynolds said.

“This [trade show] is capturing everybody and we just keep hearing ‘we hate driving on that highway, I’m so glad to see that happening’,” he said.

“It’s more one on one, face to face. I think there’s a lot of value being here.”

Kautz said that the trade show is a success every year and is a very effective way of tapping into the local economy and getting to know other businesses.

Kautz said that next year should be no exception.

“I love the trade show. Every year we look forward to it,” Kautz said.

“Talking to the Chamber [of Commerce], it sounds like there’s some surprises in store for us next year, so I’m looking forward to that.”

by Adrian St.Onge

Thousands show up to Southeast Alberta Home and Leisure Show

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