Gardeners and homeowners alike can prepare for one of the area’s biggest seasonal events as the Clark Public Utilities (CPU) Home and Garden Idea Fair returns April 25-26 at the Clark County Event Center.
The free weekend event is “much more than a home show,” with over 150 vendors and exhibitors providing ideas, products and services aimed at improving both indoor and outdoor living spaces. The Home and Garden Idea Fair is also the largest plant sale of the year in Southwest Washington, featuring more than three dozen nurseries offering a wide variety of plants, including vegetable starts, flowering trees, succulents and native species.
This year, attendees can also explore a landscape showcase created by six regional design companies, along with a farmers market and children’s entrepreneur market featuring local and handmade goods on the midway at the Clark County Fairgrounds.
“We really try to put the most emphasis on the ‘idea’ part of the Home and Garden Idea Fair,” CPU Communications Director Dameon Pesanti said. “Because we want people to feel inspired or we want people to see this as an opportunity to discover things, services or information that we can offer them. … As a community-owned utility, we are putting this on because we really believe that there are some truly valuable and exciting ideas and concepts out there, services out there that our customers deserve to know about. We believe it will really enhance their quality of life and help them live comfortably and safe.”
The landscape showcase will be an exciting, interactive addition to the event that is returning after a few-year hiatus.
“It’s going to be about 6,400 square feet and we really asked the landscape groups involved to bring us something that’s going to truly wow people and that will be interactive,” Pesanti said, adding that it is also a friendly competition amongst the landscape designers. “They’re competing for best in show, but they also have built this garden so that it is interactive and transitions from one space to another. People will be able to walk through it on these little meandering paths.”
With pathways and places to sit and rest, visitors will truly be able to get a grasp of the personality and feel of each design.
Attendees can also visit the Clark Public Utilities display space to learn how to reduce
energy expenses and qualify for rebates on home energy upgrades, Pesanti said. There will also be live power pole climbing demonstrations, baby bucket trucks to drive, kid-size lineman activities and much more.
Pesanti added that a wide range of food cart vendors will be on-site this year to help create a full-day event atmosphere.
Admission is free, but donations of non-perishable food items for local food banks or cash for Operation Warm Heart, a program providing home heating grants to families in financial crisis, are encouraged, a press release by CPU stated.
Event Center parking will be $6 per vehicle. But, visitors can park for free any time after advanced registration for an on-site blood donation with Bloodworks NW or between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. courtesy Tri-Tech Heating, Inc.
The event is located at the Clark County Event Center, 17402 NE Delfel Rd. Ridgefield, WA 98642. Doors are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26.
More information is available by visiting clarkpublicutilities.com/hgif.
Home and Garden Idea Fair vendor list
ABS Building Supply Battle Ground
All American Landscaping & Maintenance LLC
Allure Magnetics / Wind Bandits
Bath Planet by Miller Home Renovations
Bath Pros NW
Bigfoot Exteriors
Busy B’s Exteriorwood Construction
Clean Choice Professional Services
Cranberry Corners
Dan’s Dahlias
Dan’s Top Notch Heating & Cooling
Design Right Solutions/The Iron Garden
Eco Earth Conscious Options LLC
Fisher and Janisse Builders LLC
Five Star Bath Solutions of Portland
Floor Coverings International of Vancouver
Home Buyer/Seller Education Classes
IronBark Studio
L&M Glass Inc
Matrix Roofing & Home Solutions
Pacific Clean Air Solutions LLC
PS Products LLC
Rick’s Custom Fencing & Decking
Santiago General Contractor Solutions
TerraFirma Foundations Systems
Tracker Safe LLC
Vresh Construction LLC
Vulcan Design & Construction, Inc.
Waagmeester Canvas Products, Inc.
Waste Connections of Washington
Plant sale vendor list:
3Sixty Farms
Alicia's Nursery
All Seasons Plant
Alpine Gardens
Broken Gate Farm
Coyote Ridge Ranch
Eleanor's Peonies
Franklin Nursery
Green Goddess Farms
Half Moon Farm
Handrex Bamboo Garden and Nursery
Hydrangeas Plus
Jeff Greene's Carnivorous Plants
KCK Farms
Killdeer Farms
Kiona Native Plants
Lux Perennials Nursery
N & M Herb Nursery
New Leaf Farms, LLC
One Earth Botanical
Out In The Garden Nursery
Owens Gardens
Pearson Nursery LLC
Rhythm Seed Farm
Rita Lee's Nursery
Sabino’s Nursery
Sebright Gardens
Shovel & Thumb
Sprout Joy
Stoller Farms
The Homestead Farm
The Lily Garden
Tracy's Succulents and Treasures
Tzakis Naturals LLC
The Urban
Van Hevelingen Herb Nursery
Woodlawn Nursery
