Many turnout for Fresno Home and Garden Show despite weekend of wet weather

Monday, March 4, 2019
Many turnout for Home and Garden Show despite weekend of wet weather
When the forecast called for a rainy weekend, a lot of vendors thought they might be just spinning their wheels.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The only water falling on the opening of the Fresno Home and Garden Show Sunday was manmade.

Paul Norgard designed this flow and the traffic flow at the show is critical to his Clovis-based business.

"It's a really big deal. It's the only advertising I do, and that's true for a lot of guys who have permanent displays because we'll get enough leads at this show to last us the whole year," he said.

So when the forecast called for a rainy weekend, a lot of vendors thought they might be just spinning their wheels.

But this might come as a shock. So far so good.

"We got a lot of good clients that I think thought it was going to rain on Saturday, so they came out on Friday, but then we were shocked to see them come out when it was supposed to be 100% rain on Saturday, and we had tons and tons of people," Norgard said.

Guests did have to hide out from heavy rains briefly on Saturday, but they came to hunt for home decorations like a falcon trying to find a mouse.

Jolanda and Antony Monreal knew they had to get to the event and figured they could stay dry on a Sunday visit.

"It's a good combo. We had things going on Saturday, and then we also had the weather to take into consideration," Jolanda said.

Official attendance numbers aren't yet in, but vendors say they really cleaned up.